Apart from these issues, though, there’s just a huge degree of arrogance and cruelty involved in proposing mass killing as a solution for any ecological issue.
As much as I feel the distaste for killing any living beings, this seems like a naive position to take. Should this be applied to lionfish? Spotted lanternflies? Water chestnuts? Kudzu? Culling invasive species is part of minimizing the destructive impact of human ecological interference, and is generally a pretty soundly established protective practice. I can’t claim to know how appropriate it is for this particular owl population, but this is a pretty sweeping statement to make that seems to fly in the face of reality.
As much as I feel the distaste for killing any living beings, this seems like a naive position to take. Should this be applied to lionfish? Spotted lanternflies? Water chestnuts? Kudzu? Culling invasive species is part of minimizing the destructive impact of human ecological interference, and is generally a pretty soundly established protective practice. I can’t claim to know how appropriate it is for this particular owl population, but this is a pretty sweeping statement to make that seems to fly in the face of reality.