Wildlife officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls to save spotted owls

The federal government issued a plan Wednesday that could eliminate 400,000 barred owls, an invasive species, to protect threatened spotted owls in the western U.S.

Barred owls, those that will be killed if the plan is finalized, are native to the eastern U.S., but likely migrated west due to man-made changes to the Great Plains and northern boreal forest. In doing so, these striped birds displaced local spotted owls, interrupting their nesting and creating competition for food.