If we give up now, there’ll be no stopping the timber industry and federal bureaucrats from attacks on forest owls and old-growth forests

By Wayne Pacelle

Senate Democrats recently voted not only to kill a half a million North American barred owls, but also to give Trump’s Department of the Interior the green light to start taking down old-growth forests in California, Oregon, and Washington — and to kill threatened spotted owls in the process.

A ghastly plan that its proponents originally described as resolving competition between barred and spotted owls has now been weaponized to kill them both.

Make no mistake, if the federal government starts killing barred owls, that activity will go hand-in-hand with cutting down the trees that spotted owls need to survive. They’ll kill the spotted owls as collateral damage and they’ll give the timber industry the permits it wants to increase the haul of public-lands timber by 60%.

Sadly, Democratic senators focused their voting decision on partisanship and process instead of sound and humane policy, and they handed the timber industry a tool to begin cutting ancient forests and shooting and otherwise hurting both species of forest owls.

Starting a decade ago, the timber industry paid for the initial studies to try to document that barred owls and spotted owls compete. It was a deflection, attempting to blame barred owls for the long-term decline of spotted owls rather than to accept that industry’s decades-long clearing of old-growth forests.

Democratic politicians bought the lie that barred owls are “invasive,” when any serious-minded scientist understands that barred owls live only in North America and they’ve engaged in a modest range expansion. If barred owls are invasive, so are bald eagles, red-shouldered hawks, blue jays, Anna’s hummingbirds, and hundreds of other bird species that live only in North America.

We change landscapes, forests, grasslands, and the Earth’s temperature and precipitation patterns and expect animals not to adapt? We destroy their homes and ask them not to fly and find a safe place to live?

Talk about blaming the victim.

The Barred Owl Massacre Compounds Problems for Spotted Owls

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., stood on the Senate floor last week with photos of owls and their young and rightly called this scheme what it is: absurd. He reminded his colleagues that the barred owl’s expansion into the West is a natural and adaptive behavior, not a capital crime. His plea was simple: let nature be nature. Spare both owl species.

Nearly half of Senate Republicans voted in favor of Sen. Kennedy’s resolution, S.J. Res. 69. But only three Democrats — Cory Booker, D-N.J., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. — joined him in defending these beautiful birds from this calculated government-run assault. The rest voted to allow government-paid shooters to enter our national parks and forests to kill monogamous owl pairs by the hundreds of thousands, orphaning countless owlets too young to survive without parental care.

What’s worse, the ill-considered plan, supported by the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity and their newfound allies in the timber industry, is doomed to fail. We have amassed a growing list of highly credentialed scientists who say that very thing.

• Dr. Elaine Leslie, former chief of Biological Services for the National Park Service and a leader with the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks: “Barred owl reproduction and juvenile dispersal will negate any short-term reduction in lethal take … Recolonization will occur rapidly.”
• Dr. Eric Forsman, dean of forest owl biologists who worked at the U.S. Forest Service for decades: “As soon as you stop, barred owls will be back, and you will be back to square one.”
• Kent Livezey, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, author of 14 peer-reviewed papers on barred and spotted owls: “I do not believe that spending more than 1 billion dollars to kill almost one-half million barred owls is worth the carnage, expense, precedents, and distraction from what is the more-important issue: protection of biodiverse old-growth forests.”

As Livezey says, the price tag is immense: potentially $1.35 billion or more over 30 years. Imagine spending that money to protect habitat instead of destroying the birds who inhabit it.

We at Animal Wellness Action and our swelling coalition of more than 450 organizations, including dozens of local Audubon chapters, are not standing down. We are already in federal court challenging this plan. And we are asking Congress, if they didn’t like the Congressional Review Act resolution, to put a pause on the kill plan by defunding it for the next fiscal year and look at the science. Assess the views of scientists who don’t work for the timber industry and recognize that the plan is doomed to fail.

And pausing the plan also stops the timber industry from colluding with the Department of the Interior to issue “take” permits for spotted owls to cut down their old-growth-forest habitats.

If barred owls will simply fly back into these forests, what’s the point of spending a billion dollars to kill them? What’s the point of pretending that slaughtering one species will somehow “save” another, when the plan is going to unleash habitat destruction and logging that will shrink the suitable living areas for both species.

We are on the front end of a foolish 30-year plan. Sen. Kennedy called it hubris, and he was right. We need your help to prosecute the case that killing half a million owls, and doing so on lands that include 14 national parks and cutting down old growth forests on other public lands amounts, is a scandal.

Go to www.animalwellnessaction.org and see how your senators voted. Use our on-line tool here to thank the lawmakers who voted to stop this madness. And go here to urge the senators who voted to kill owls and cut down old growth forests to pivot and act as protectors of owls and forests.

BY JOE MACALUSO | Contributing writer

21 hrs ago

In the next few days, the entire state will be open to deer hunters and their modern firearms seasons.

True, archery hunters have had their opening days, and some primitive firearms owners already are afield.

But, it’s days-upon-days modern firearms seasons that brings tens of thousands of hunters to stands and blinds near fields and into forests, swamps and marshes.

Now, with black bears increasing in numbers, there’s the possibility of hunters encountering another large animal.

“It’s a guesstimate that we have about 1,500 black bears in Louisiana now,” John Hanks said.

Hanks heads up Wildlife and Fisheries’ Large Carnivore Program from his office in Monroe. He’s in charge of Louisiana’s second black bear hunting season coming up in December, a hunt opened to those drawn in a lottery in October.

“Most of the bears live in the Mississippi alluvial valley, lands on the eastern side of the state around the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers all the way to the coast,” Hanks said. “Bears are much less frequently seen in the western parishes. Yes, bears can move. They move a lot during breeding season.”

Because Louisiana’s black bears usually don’t hibernate like their northern brethren, it’s likely deer hunters in the eastern parishes will see a bear on feeding patrol especially in November and December when bears try to consume as many calories as possible to be able to bear up under wintertime’s scarce food resources.

Because there have been a handful of documented instances when deer and feral hog hunters mistakenly have shot and killed black bears that hunters need to heed one of the primary rules in hunting – know your target.

In these documented cases, hunters have faced fines up to $10,000.

“We haven’t had any cases like that recently, the mistaken-identity cases,” Hanks said. “There have been some instances when bears have been shot on purpose.”

Those cases were prosecuted, too.

“It’s always best to identify a target,” Hanks said. “If the animal is black and obscured by any cover, well, it could be a hog or someone’s black Labrador retriever, or another black dog.

“We’ve had people send in trail-camera videos of animals in heavy cover and they want us to identify the animal. It’s very difficult even then. The only way anyone could know is if the animal stops in an open area and, then, we have a good ID,” Hanks said. “Just be sure of what you’re shooting at before firing a shot.”

The same goes for the human animal, too. Though not every season, but there have been a handful of instances during the past 10 years when a hunter is shot by another hunter, the latter most times mistakenly firing at movement.

This comes with another warning – wear hunter orange hats and vests while on the move in the forest and fields during the hunting season.

The commission

Recreational fishing groups along with conservation and environmental organizations came away from Thursday’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting vowing to fight a notice of intent to remove a portion of a half-mile buffer zone to a quarter-mile zone for the menhaden fishing industry.

The move adds about 12 square miles of nearshore waters available to menhaden fishing operations.

The move comes after an agreement for a half-mile buffer zone across the state’s coast, an agreement that lasted one fishing season for menhaden boats.

Public comment will be taken after the notice is posted on Dec. 19 in the State Register. Mail comments to Jason Adriance, Fisheries Division, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 or email: jadriance@wlf.la.gov. The deadline is 3 p.m., Jan. 23.

Boat owners

A new website – boat.wlf.la.gov – opened late last week to handle boat registrations and renewals without boat owners having to visit a Wildlife and Fisheries office.

The new system allows customers “a secure platform” where they can create an account, provide their registration number and first four digits of their Hull ID and make a credit card payment.

And, the agency has sent a postcard to “certain registered businesses and co-owner accounts” which do not have up-to-date personal or account information on file. The card has instructions on how to upload current information and to renew registrations and other boating-related documents.

Volunteers needed

Following work to plant 4,000 shrubs on terraces in Terrebonne Parish – named the Lake Boudreaux vegetative planting project – the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is asking for volunteers for a Nov. 20-22 project to plant dune grasses on Grand Isle.

The plan is to plant 25,000 plugs of bitter panicum along a stretch of beach near a newly constructed levee on the Gulf side of the island, a stretch badly damaged in Hurricane Ida.

The coalition will provide water, lunch, work gloves, sunscreen and all necessary equipment. Volunteers can register online: connect.crcl.org/civicrm/event/list

Red snapper

As of late Friday, no word from Wildlife and Fisheries about the recreational red snapper season. The last report, through Oct. 19, was that 20,178 pounds remained in this year’s state annual allotment of 894,955 pounds.

In large parts of Europe, recreational hunting is still considered an indispensable tool for regulating wildlife populations. It is intended to prevent damage, ensure ecological balance, and curb the spread of so-called invasive species.

Editorial staff, November 9, 2025

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However, a look at data, studies and international comparison regions shows that hunting does not achieve these goals and in many cases has the opposite effect.

For decades, hunting associations have claimed that without hunting, fox, wild boar, and raccoon populations would “explode.” The figures contradict this. For example, the number of raccoons hunted has increased dramatically for years, while the species continues to spread. The same applies to foxes and wild boar. Recreational hunting does not permanently reduce their populations.

The reason is biologically simple: Many wild animals react to hunting pressure with compensatory reproduction. The greater the number of animals killed, the stronger the offspring. Groups of animals are destabilized, social structures are destroyed, young animals are displaced – a situation that maximizes reproduction. Recreational hunting thus creates precisely the populations it claims to prevent: young, productive, and unstable.

Where there is no hunting, nature relaxes.

The counterexamples are clear:

• Luxembourg banned fox hunting in 2015. The predicted epidemics, collapse scenarios, and population explosions failed to materialize. The population stabilized on its own.
• The Canton of Geneva banned recreational hunting as early as 1974. To this day, studies show more stable wildlife populations and higher biodiversity than in the surrounding hunting areas.
• National parks worldwide operate almost exclusively without recreational hunting. Population regulation occurs through habitat, competition, predation, and resource availability, not through gunfire. The result is functioning ecosystems with natural population cycles.

These examples refute the central narrative of the hunting lobby: wild animals do not need human “population control”, but rather intact habitats and undisturbed social structures.

Invasive species: the next fairy tale

Hunting is often portrayed as a necessity when it comes to invasive species. However, data shows that neither raccoons nor coypus can be sustainably controlled through hunting. In many regions, intensive culling even leads to faster spread, because gaps are immediately filled by immigration from neighboring areas – a classic “Sisyphean effect”.

Furthermore, scientifically sound management plans are often lacking. Instead, shots are fired as needed, without evaluating the ecological impact.

Hobby hunting as a cultural relic

Modern recreational hunting often presents itself as a scientifically sound tool for nature conservation. In reality, it is frequently a traditional ritual with a hobbyist character, which subsequently legitimizes itself ecologically. Upon closer examination, the supposed ecological necessities prove to be a pretext for an outdated system.

The number of shots fired has been increasing for years, not because nature is out of control, but because recreational hunting is to be maintained. Ecological realities often play a subordinate role in this.

Time for a new wildlife management system

Modern wildlife management is based on data, ecosystem research, and internationally proven approaches. This includes:

• Promoting natural regulation through habitat improvement.
• Reduction of disturbances, especially those caused by hunting pressure.
• Monitoring instead of ritualized culling quotas.
• The use of specialist game wardens should only occur in clearly defined exceptional cases, not as a permanent practice.

Hunting as a recreational activity is neither ecologically necessary nor scientifically sound. Nature functions when left to its own devices. Modern management must be guided by this principle, not by traditions, myths, or lobbying interests.

The facts are clear: recreational hunting does not solve the problems. In many cases, it creates them.

According to IG Wild beim Wild, annual medical-psychological assessments are also needed for recreational hunters following the example of Holland, as well as an age limit. The largest age group among recreational hunters is 65+, those with age-related, cognitive, visual, concentration, and reaction weaknesses, as well as training and educational deficits. From the age of 45, the number of accidents for humans and animals increases dramatically. The alarming reports of hunting accidents and fatal crimes with hunting weapons show that it’s high time to abolish recreational hunting! Lethal firearms don’t belong in the hands of senile recreational hunters who can use them completely uncontrolled! Recreational hunters represent everything that’s wrong in the world.

Recreational hunters live speciesism. Speciesism is comparable to racism and sexism, and that’s no culture or tradition.

In particular, with recreational hunting, it’s essential to take a close look. Nowhere is there as much manipulation with untruths and fake news. Violence and lies are two sides of the same coin.

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No to hunting trophy photos on the internet!

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Hunting ban for hobby hunters

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Stop Hubertus masses in churches

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Boycott cantons that massacre wolves

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Stop selling dangerous pasture nets for animals

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Children must be protected from violence during hunting

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From WYOMING UNTRAPPED:

TOMORROW, November 10, Cody Roberts will appear before the Third Judicial District Court in Sweetwater County to face felony animal cruelty charges.

This is the man accused of running down a wild wolf with a snowmobile, taping her mouth shut, parading her alive into a bar, and then killing her. The case was moved from Sublette County due to overwhelming public concern, a rare acknowledgment of just how deeply this act has disturbed people across Wyoming and beyond.

It’s important to remember that we’ve reached this point because of public outcry, because people refused to stay silent, because communities across Wyoming and the nation demanded accountability. This hearing is happening because compassion was louder than cruelty, and because so many stood up for what is right.

This is not only about one man, or one wolf. It’s about whether violence toward wildlife is met with silence or with justice. When cruelty becomes culture, empathy must become action.

The hearing is open to the public, both in person and through the Wyoming Courts live audio stream at www.wyocourts.gov
→ Courts → District Courts → Sweetwater County → Courtroom 2.
If you can attend, do. If you can listen, please do. Presence matters. Witnessing matters.

Let’s remember the power of our voices as we continue to fight for wildlife, for compassion, and for a more humane Wyoming.