From the ‘You Can’t Make This Up’ Department….

Environmentalists have had a long love affair with the spotted owl and they’ll tell you it’s because they love all creatures and want to protect them but the reality is they saw the spotted owl as a means to attack the logging industry.  Well now the chickens, or really the owls, are coming home to roost.

From the NPR story:

“In desperation to save the rare northern spotted owl, biologists are doing something that goes against their core — shooting another owl that’s rapidly taking over spotted owl territory across the northwest.”

The barred owl is moving into the spotted owl territory and because the barred owl is more aggressive and reproduces faster, it’s taking over the spotted owls’ nests and reducing the amount of food the spotted owls can eat.

So what is the Leftist solution to this case of Nature behaving in a ‘natural’ way?  Kill the barred owls!

“Barred owls are not rare. Still, shooting them has presented such a quandary to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that it has taken more than seven years come to this solution.”

“On the other hand, the Fish and Wildlife Service can’t ignore the invasion because it’s legally required to help rare species under the Endangered Species Act. The agency even hired an ethicist, Clark University’s Bill Lynn, to help wildlife experts resolve the dilemma.”

“People recognized there’s a crisis for the spotted owl, that barred owls are part of the cause of that crisis and, so, they reluctantly, essentially justified the experimental removal of barred owls,” Lynn says.”

They hired an ethicist to justify the killing of the barred owls to make them feel good!

Who gave the Federal Government the authority to play ‘God’ and decide which species is more important?  Do we derive such a great public benefit from having spotted owls flying around that it necessitates killing barred owls?

Of course not, but this is what always happens when Leftists get emotionally attached to an issue and then come face to face with the reality that Nature is against their cause.  They double down on stupid and try to influence a natural process so their preferred issue wins.  See Solyndra.

The spotted owl deserves its fair share and the wealthy barred owls have to sacrifice.  Besides, there are too many barred owls and they can afford to pay a little more to help the spotted owls.  Sound familiar?