A parable about means and ends:
A sweeping federal court ruling in 1991 closed much of the Northwest woods to logging. By the end of the century, timber harvest on 24 million acres of federal land had dropped 90 percent from its heyday.
This was supposed to save the spotted owl, but.....
...the owls' numbers have continued to slide.
The new plan:
"If we don't manage barred owls, the probability of recovering the spotted owl goes down significantly," said Paul Henson, Oregon state supervisor for Fish and Wildlife.
What does "manage" mean? It means blowing their heads off with a shotgun:
The favored method involves luring the birds with a recording of a barred owl call, then shooting them with a shotgun when they fly in to drive out the intruders.
Why do we hate barred owls?
Barred owls are bigger, more aggressive, highly adaptable, and less picky about food....
As Darwin would say, they are more fit, outcompeting their rivals. This is how Gaia makes us better. I wonder how many other unfit species need protecting...
Killing some owls to save other owls makes sense, in a country considering killing some Syrians, to prove to other Syrians that killing Syrians is wrong......but only wrong if using non-Obama-approved killing techniques.
Here are two pictures, one of each species. Can you tell the good bird from the evil bird? Can the hunters?
Can our humanitarian missiles tell the difference between Assad supporters and innocents?
 
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