Smithsonian Magazine reports that spotted owl numbers have plummeted by about 75% over the last two decades, citing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, while barred owls appear to be thriving.

In 1990, northern spotted owls were listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1990. They were listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act in 2016.

There’s broad agreement the native owls are at risk, but the animal rights organizations behind the opposition letter this week say killing barred owls is not the answer. Instead, the groups advocate for nonlethal means to protect the spotted owls, including safeguarding their habitat.

“The plan to kill barred owls is a colossally reckless action ... it should be sidelined with all deliberate speed, and non-lethal management actions to protect spotted owls and their habitats should be made the priority actions.”

Not all wildlife protection groups agree, however.

Tom Wheeler, executive director of the Environmental Protection Information Center, called the letter criticizing the proposal to beat back barred owls “factually misleading” and “divorced from what’s actually being proposed.”

The letter reports that there will be “mistaken-identity kills,” potentially of the spotted owls they seek to protect, but Wheeler said the proposal outlines a strategy to avoid this.

Those opposing the plan also decry lead poisoning that could result from the shot used by hunters. According to Wheeler, the plan calls for the owl carcasses to be removed from the area where they’re shot. California has banned hunting with lead ammunition.

The proposal — which remains a draft — would not result in the immediate slaughter of barred owls.

Instead, it removes the permitting burden for others to remove the birds, Wheeler said.

Public land managers, such as the federal Fish and Wildlife Service and Forest Service, as well as private landowners, “will be able to more expeditiously engage in this activity,” he said.

Wheeler said he recognized the issue was morally fraught, but doesn’t feel there’s an alternative. If nothing is done to control the barred owls, he believes the northern spotted owl will go extinct in his lifetime.

His organization wants federal wildlife officials to take even more aggressive steps to stop the forward march of the invasive owls.

“We have a functional choice, which is the extinction of one species, or we could have both species continue to exist on the landscape,” he said.

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