Killing barred owls to save northern spotted owls: Rethinking American wildlife conservation

The podcast dives into the fierce battle between the endangered northern spotted owl and the invasive barred owl in the Pacific Northwest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to cull nearly half a million barred owls to protect their threatened counterpart. It tackles the ethical dilemmas of this controversial conservation strategy and the historical context of logging’s impact on old-growth forests. The conversation also emphasizes the need for new legislation to address broader ecosystem health, raising critical questions about human intervention in wildlife management.