PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Environmental advocates in Oregon have criticized a state plan to kill more than 1,000 ravens to help save the endangered greater sage grouse.
Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife applied for permits last year to kill up to 500 ravens per year over a three-year period to reduce the number preying upon sage grouse eggs.
Environmentalists say the strategy of putting poisoned chicken eggs in bait boxes in Oregon’s Baker County has serious flaws.
In Oregon, where ravens are being targeted, the grouse population has fallen by 75% since 2005. But environmentalists are saying many more poisoned eggs need to be distributed than the number of ravens targeted, creating the potential to kill other species.
The poison was chosen because it is lethal to ravens, crows and gulls and only moderately toxic to raptors and some other birds with almost no effect on mammals, according to a wildlife agency spokeswoman.