U.S. wildlife officials plan to kill nearly half million invasive barred owls to save at-risk spotted owls

LOS ANGELES, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday released a control program to kill nearly half a million invasive barred owls in the Pacific Northwest to prevent at-risk native spotted owls from extinction.

According to the service's final environmental impact statement analyzing proposed barred owl management alternatives to protect northern and California spotted owls in Washington, Oregon and California from invasive barred owls, the implementation of the program would result in the annual removal of less than one-half of 1 percent of the current North American barred owl population.