Jon Carroll reports that the Spotted Owl just can't stay out of trouble.
.....the spotted owls are in danger again. Their numbers are declining rapidly. The villains this time are not humans, nor any activities sponsored by humans. The villains are - another species of owl.
The barred owl, a sort of distant cousin to the spotted owl (they are alike enough to interbreed, producing the "sparred" owl), has been moving westward for some time.
What's more, there are documented instances of barred owls chasing spotted owls out of their territory. Barred owls have even killed their tinier relatives. They're just doing what comes naturally. Is it possible to make some kind of moral distinction between the big bad barred owls and the sweet saved-from-extinction spotted owls? Of course not. They're birds. They do what they do.
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