A group of animal advocacy organizations are calling on the federal government to stop a proposal that aims to save spotted owl populations by killing invasive barred owls in the west coast.

To save northern spotted owls from the barred owl onslaught, the FWS said in a draft environmental impact statement that they plan to initially cull around 20,000 of the owls in the first year ...

A 330-page document outlines the Proposed Barred Owl Management Strategy developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Barred owls are known to be aggressive and territorial. A barred owl similar to this one recently attacked a Washington state woman — twice. Kena Betancur / AFP via Getty Images.

FILE - A female barred owl sits on a branch in the wooded hills, Dec. 13, 2017, outside Philomath, Ore. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File) TOPICS: ...

To save the spotted owl from possible extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released a plan to kill nearly 500,000 barred owls by deploying trained shooters into West Coast forests.

While barred owl removal is unpalatable, spotted owls evolved over eons and, absent intervention, will disappear from the planet in a matter of years. Species have intrinsic value, ...

If the average cost to kill each barred owl (including training, vehicles, gas and staff wages) were only $500, the total cost would be $235,450,000 over the life of this project.

FILE - A barred owl is shown in the woods outside Philomath, Ore., Dec. 13, 2017. To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious ...