Wednesday, the U.S. Senate resoundingly voted to protect science-based wildlife management by rejecting a proposal, S.J. Res. 69, to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Barred Owl Management Strategy, an effort influenced by some of the nation’s leading anti-hunting and animal rights activists. Leading up to the vote, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) worked directly with the nearly 60 U.S. Senators in the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus to see this proposal defeated.

It is estimated that Northern spotted owls range from 3,000 to 5,200 birds in total. One of the biggest threats facing spotted owls is the non-native, invasive barred owls, which outcompete the threatened, native spotted owls. To address this issue, in 2024, FWS released a comprehensive plan to authorize the science-based removal of barred owls across certain portions of the spotted owl range in the Pacific Northwest. This management strategy was developed by the professionals at FWS, in collaboration with the effected state and tribal wildlife agencies and other important stakeholders, under the Biden Administration and is strongly supported by FWS in the Trump Administration, demonstrating that science-based wildlife management is not a partisan issue.

Since inception, S.J. Res. 69 was not to be taken at face value of “protecting owls”, but rather this was nothing more than a disguised effort by animal rights activists to ignore scientifically sound, yet difficult, wildlife management decisions. Despite the years of collaboration and scientific efforts that went into developing this plan, animal rights activists seized this opportunity as yet another attempt to undermine science-based wildlife management authority. The same animal rights activists who are quoted as saying, “We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States… We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state,” were strong proponents of S.J. Res. 69.

“By voting to reject this proposal, the U.S. Senate, including a majority of the Members of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, voted soundly to defeat the efforts of anti-hunting and animal rights activists who continually seek to replace science with emotions when it comes to managing our nation’s wildlife,” said CSF Senior Vice President Taylor Schmitz. “We thank the U.S. Senate for rejecting this proposal and upholding science as the standard for wildlife management.”

CSF will continue to lead the fight to protect science-based wildlife management authority and to defeat the anti-hunting agenda of animal rights activists.