Reader’s voice: Stop killing owls!

 

Hello. My name is Len Yannielli, professor emeritus, Naugatuck Valley Community College, Waterbury, Conn.

I am asking you today to sign a We The People petition to the White House to stop an owl kill program by our government. (See video below.)

Some Interior Department biologists claim that shooting thousands of barred owls will save the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest. Barred owls are out-competing spotted owls there. However, their solution is terribly wrong.

There are multiple reasons to oppose this owl kill program.

1. It is morally repugnant.
2. It will cost in excess of $1 million tax dollars.
3. Other interests, who place profits before wildlife and nature, are behind this heinous program.
4. Hybrids have already been reported, so how are the shooters going to tell the difference?
5. It plain won’t work.

Concerning point #5, barred owls are larger with bigger talons. They will continue to come down from Canada and out-compete the smaller spotted owls. That’s how living evolution works, especially with declining natural habitats due to corporate logging and development. The killing of barred owls, and wasting of taxpayer money, would continue for years and years.

The best way to save the spotted owl is to save old growth forests. If we get 25,000 signatures, the administration must review the policy. Please sign the petition and pass it on to friends.

Photo: Barred Owl, Moscow Mountain, Idaho. Tatiana Gettelman, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0