I do not like certain “animal rights” activists. To some animal rights people, all animals should have an equal opportunity to live. Perhaps each animal has a soul. A house sparrow, under this philosophy, has an equal right to life as a whooping crane. The species is not important, the individual animal is.
That brings us to the spotted owl, a bird species of the Northwest that is near extinction. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering killing a number of barred owls, a widespread species originally native to eastern United States. Barred owls, which can even live in urban parks, are overwhelming the spotted owls, which have a very narrow range of habitat. See <http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/07/killing_barred_owls_to_save_th.html>.
Some animal rights people object to this plan, which is being done as an experiment in controlled conditions. According to an article in today’s Morning Call, they say the government should keep hands off, “and let the more dominant bird prevail, as nature intended.” (I added the emphasis to draw attention to the stupidity of this. Nature intended? Really?)
Humans have been screwing with nature since paleolithic times. The reason the spotted owl is endangered is because logging damaged its habitat. We are killing off entire species at an alarming rate--perhaps 1/3 in the next 100 years will be no more. Since the dominant species on the earth is humankind, it is up to us to save species from extinction. I am not ready to say goodbye to the spotted owl because some non-thinking animal rights activists are completely clueless about ecology.
Tomorrow: A different kind of animal rights--protecting farm animals from abuse.
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