Animal groups push back on federal plan to kill 500,000 barred owls, including Bay Area

by Thomas Hughes, Bay City News November 28, 2024November 27, 2024

A barred owl rests on a branch at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland, on June 15, 2022. A plan approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August would cull about 500,000 barred owls over 30 years to try to protect Northern and California spotted owls, which are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The program would affect several national parks and monuments in California and the Bay Area. (Holly Keepers/USFWS)

Two animal welfare organizations have filed a federal lawsuit to stop the hunting of a half-million barred owls across several states, including in federal parks and monuments, three of which are in Marin County.

The groups are also calling on superintendents of federal lands in California to opt out of the program, which was finalized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August.

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