• FumpyAer [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            8 months ago

            It’s not hard to properly identify an owl, and they typically hire really good people for that stuff. Source: my [relative] used to work for the forest service as an ornithologist.

            Also: if they accidentally kill some non invasive birds by accident, that’s still less destructive than letting the invasive species crowd out the original ecosystem.

            • Evilsandwichman [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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              8 months ago

              my [relative] used to work for the forest service as an ornithologist

              This sounds like a betrayal equivalent to if Jane Goodall used her skills to help exterminate a tribe of gorillas

              • FumpyAer [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                8 months ago

                Do you know what the forest service does? They are a conservationist organization within the US government. It’s one of the most unambiguously positive parts of the government.

                My relative would tag specimens of protected and endangered species of owls, note their locations, and then prevent loggers from destroying those habitats. [Relative] is a hippie environmentalist, and they literally would not have taken a job that harms animals.

                More info on the forest service PDF download

                Killing invasive species protects countless other species from extinction, so it has to be done. Those invasive species have their own habitat elsewhere, so they’re not threatened, and they have to go.