To save the imperilled spotted owl from potential extinction, US wildlife officials are set to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their cousins. The contentious plan will see trained shooters deployed into dense West Coast forests. The US Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released on Wednesday is meant to prop up declining spotted owl populations in Oregon, Washington state and California. Documents released by the agency show up to about 450,000 barred owls would be shot over three decades after the birds from the eastern US encroached into the West Coast territory …
