A Stitch in Haste

It became necessary to destroy the owls in order to save them:

Federal scientists are planning to shoot a small number of barred owls they say are crowding out the threatened spotted owl in northern California -- an experiment that could lead to killing thousands of the larger owls on the West Coast.

Scientists said the "removal" experiment would be the best way to quickly determine whether barred owls are pushing spotted owls toward extinction. If successful, officials would then consider expanding the program.
...
Some experts, however, say even if the experiment is successful, it will be hard to stop the migration of the barred owls.

"Assuming you find removal is working -- spotted owls move back into their territories -- are you prepared to do that for the next 10,000 years? Because as soon as you stop you're right back where you started," said Eric Forsman, a spotted owl biologist for the U.S. Forest Service.

I'm generally sympathetic, ab initio, to the general concept of protecting endangered species, if the endangerment was the direct result of reckless human activity. I'm not sure how an apparently natural migration of barred owls into spotted owl territory is analogous to deforestation and other forms of irresponsible habitat destruction.

Also, isn't it the environmentalists who always warn that ecosystems are "living tapestries" and that if you remove one thread then the whole fabric may collapse? Isn't there just a tad bit of hubris in assuming that it's as easy as shooting 20 barred owls?

Finally, for the animal rights extremists: don't the barred owls have just as much "rights" as the spotted owls? Yet why do I expect not to see any significant protests from PETA and similar organizations?

Eco-politics often trumps eco-wisdom or eco-realism (recall the "10,000 years" quote above). Spotted owls are not only endangered -- lots of animals are -- they are also politically favored. And as we see time and time again in the strictly human realm, political favoritism leads to unwise, wasteful, self-contradicting and sometimes even destructive results.

But eco-politics is merely one application of the Politics of the Warm Fuzzy Feeling. The environmentalists "did something" to save an endangered species. The fact that the "something" was the slaughter of biologically equivalent, but politically subordinate, animals is irrelevant.

Unless of course the barred owl someday becomes endangered itself. I wonder how the environmentalists would respond then.


Go Ahead, Kill Him...


...He Needs His Space.