In a move that could have come straight from the plot of a bizarre dystopian novel, the Biden administration is still on board with their grand plan to save the imperiled spotted owl by launching a veritable avian massacre.

Yes, you read that right. In an attempt to prop up declining populations of northern and California spotted owls, U.S. wildlife officials are gearing up to kill nearly half a million barred owls. It’s conservation, American-style: save one bird by obliterating another. Apparently, the spotted owls have a very good lobby and have some money to throw around to Democratic legislators.

Biden’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has decided that the best way to deal with the invasion of barred owls, which have the audacity to outcompete their spotted cousins, is to send trained shooters into the forests of Oregon, Washington, and California.

Armed with shotguns and megaphones, these government-sanctioned snipers will lure the unsuspecting barred owls with recorded owl calls before blasting them out of the sky. If this sounds like a scene from a twisted version of the Duck Hunt video game, you’re not alone.

A controversial and bizarre approach to conservation.

This brilliant strategy, which involves killing around 450,000 barred owls over the next three decades, is aimed at giving the spotted owls a fighting chance. Apparently, the spotted owls have been struggling to keep up with their more aggressive, larger-brooded relatives. So instead of focusing on preserving the forests that house these delicate creatures, USFWS has decided it’s time to go full Rambo on the barred owls.

And let’s not forget the logistical genius of it all. The birds will be shot, and their carcasses buried on- site. Because nothing says “conservation” quite like turning the forest floor into a mass graveyard for owls.

Wildlife advocates divided.

Wildlife advocates are, predictably, divided. Some are grudgingly accepting this method as a necessary evil. Others, like Wayne Pacelle from Animal Wellness Action, are appalled, labeling the USFWS as a persecutor rather than a “protector” of wildlife. Many critics argue that this plan is bound to fail, as barred owls will just keep migrating into the areas where their comrades were slaughtered. It’s a classic game of whack-a-mole, only with feathers.

The plan’s supporters, including the American Bird Conservancy, argue that barred owls don’t belong on the West Coast and that their removal is crucial for the survival of the spotted owls. But it’s hard to overlook the irony here: we’re killing one species to save another, in the hopes that one day, we might not need to do as much killing.

As the final environmental study is published under the EPA and the public comment period opens, one can only hope that the voices of reason will prevail. But given the track record of the insanity that