The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services has a 30-year plan to kill around 470,000 Barred Owls in order to save the Spotted Owl from extinction. Spotted owls are federally protected in the US.
The intention is to save the Northern spotted owl, which is currently listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. According to the service, the 2011 Northern Spotted Owl Recovery ...
“We don't take this lightly," Moran said. "We have a responsibility to recover the spotted owl, but we're conservation biologists. So that's very challenging for us to come to this decision.