The U.S. Forest Service plan is part of a strategy to save endangered spotted owls in Washington, Oregon and California.

The agency's plan called for more than 2,400 barred owls to be removed this year and for that number to ramp up to more than 15,500 birds annually beginning in 2027.

FILE - Wildlife technician Jordan Hazan records data from a male barred owl he shot earlier in the night, Oct. 24, 2018, inside a lab in Corvallis, Ore. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) ...

WASHINGTON — To save the imperiled spotted owl, the Obama administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to shoot barred owls, a rival bird that has shoved its smaller cousin aside ...

Should the federal government allow people to shoot barred owls to protect the endangered northern spotted owl? That’s a question wildlife officials are asking after the Obama administration announced ...