Plan to kill 450,000 owls pushes past major obstacle with Republicans both for and against

"The full Senate on Wednesday struck down a GOP effort to prevent the cull of up to 450,000 barred owls in the Pacific Northwest over three decades, ending a saga that created strange political bedfellows. It's a major win for environmentalists and federal wildlife officials who want to protect northern spotted owls that have been crowded out by their larger, more aggressive cousins. In recent weeks they got an unlikely ally in loggers who said scuttling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan could hinder timber sales."

"Sen. John Kennedy, a conservative from Louisiana, sought to nix the owl-killing plan via the Congressional Review Act, which can be used to overturn recent rules by federal agencies. Kennedy said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, whose portfolio includes timber production, recently called him and told him to abandon the resolution. This month logging advocates said that stopping the cull would jeopardize timber production goals set by the Trump administration."

The Senate voted down a GOP resolution aimed at blocking a federal plan to cull barred owls in the Pacific Northwest. The Fish and Wildlife Service plan would remove as many as 450,000 barred owls over three decades to reduce competition and protect endangered northern spotted owls. Environmentalists and wildlife officials support the program as essential to prevent spotted owl extinction, while loggers and the Trump administration argued that blocking the cull could jeopardize timber production goals. Opponents including some conservatives and animal rights advocates called the cull inhumane and too costly, creating an unusual political split.

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