How a battle over owls points to a bigger question in conservation

Last winter, federal officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a program to save the perpetually threatened northern spotted owl.

The problem? Invasive barred owls are crowding out our local forest -- they're bigger, and more aggressive. The solution? Culling half a million of those owls over the next 30 years.

On its face, the issue seems pretty straightforward: barred owls are invasive, and because of them, Northern spotted owls are disappearing. 

But for Jay Odenbaugh, a philosopher and ethicist, the issue brings up a bigger question: how we as humans try to intervene in a problem we're also responsible for creating.

KUOW's Diana Opong spoke with Odenbaugh about a recent op-ed he co-authored for the New York Times about how we can think more ethically about conservation. 

Guests:

• Jay Odenbaugh, professor of humanities at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR.

Related Links:

• KUOW - Why the feds want to cull barred owls in the Pacific Northwest
• Opinion | To Save Some Endangered Owls, Would You Kill 500,000 Other Owls? - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
• Feds propose shooting one owl to save another in Pacific Northwest | The Seattle Times

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