Read as much as you want:

I often find it interesting how many or most of us will advocate for the
protection of certain individual living things and certain species (or
groups within a species) of living things while acting or neglecting to act
in ways that may harm other individuals, groups or species. Which species
are we willing to kill? Which are we willing to have killed for us, while
we are unwilling to kill them with our own hands or guns or knives? Which
species will we have killed by those we give money to for products, services
or taxes without complaint, while we might loudly complain to those that use
the money we gave them for taxes, products or services when their activities
lead to the deaths of our favored species, populations and individuals?
Which species will we watch go extinct as another recently established
species kills them off? Would we support culling mosquitos or rats if they
carried diseases that threatened to drive some beloved bird species to
extinction?

I expect few of us would hesitate to kill a mosquito that is sucking our
blood or even one that we think may suck our blood. How many of us will
kill a rat or pay someone else to kill a rat making a home in our kitchen?
If the issue is the feelings of the animal or the innocence of the animal
vs. the rarity of the species or its importance in the local ecosystem, then
I expect the rats have as much or more feeling and innocence as most species
we advocate for. Many of us will pay to have someone else kill a chicken
for our meal, but I suspect a minority may be willing to kill the chicken
ourselves for that meal. We will pay agribusiness to "clear" countless
acres, killing millions of organisms to grow our soybeans, wheat and corn we
eat or to feed the animals whose meat or milk we eat? We freely boil those
soybeans to death before they even have a chance to sprout. We pay oil
companies to destroy and poison an enormous amount of habitat, killing
countless individual animals and uncounted species so that we can drive
around the state and fly around the world to see birds, but we may protest
loudly if someone kills one bird to attempt to save another.

Like Jamie, I love Barred Owls as individuals, enjoy watching the adults and
cute juveniles. I enjoy hooting with them and showing them to others, but
as a species in this recent part of their range I am quite concerned about
the other species they may drive into rarity or extinction as the ecological
order is changed to make room for this recently arrived successful species.
I am not comforted that evolution may re-establish a new rich diversity with
a new set of species in a million years.

At this time I'm not sure if the proposed program to kill some Barred Owls
in hopes of at least slowing the demise of the Spotted Owl and other species
now being impacted by the immigrant Barred Owls will be effective and I
don't know if I support it. It is certainly hard for me to support it
emotionally. If there is a better, more effective and affordable way to
reduce the pressure on spotted owls and others from the Barred Owls I'd love
to hear it.

The hope is to give the spotted enough time to somehow make a comeback
rather than go extinct before the population becomes better adapted to
conditions that are now pushing the species towards extinction or before
those conditions change. Species do adapt if under pressure, have enough
time and if they haven't already gone extinct. With enough time populations
of Spotted Owls may become better adapted surviving in second growth. They
may become better able to coexist with Barred Owls over time through various
possible strategies. Somehow the Eastern Screech Owls adapted to life with
Barred Owls.

Given enough time and given a political, societal and commercial policy of
protecting both remaining old growth and protecting enough older second
growth spotted owls would have more habitat and a better chance of survival
as that second growth becomes mature enough to sustain spotted owls. To
protect them and the other old growth obligates we certainly must work
towards this political, societal and commercial change and could not rely on
this proposed Barred Owl culling program alone.

Stewart Wechsler
Ecological Consulting
West Seattle
206 932-7225
ecostewart at quidnunc.net

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