VICTORIA, B.C. – A coalition of environmental groups has filed a lawsuit aimed at preventing the extinction of the spotted owl in British Columbia. The population is now estimated at six breeding pairs.
“If the spotted owl goes extinct, it will be the first vertebrate species in British Columbia’s history that will have gone extinct as a result of logging,” said Ken Wu, a Western Canada Wilderness Committee spokesman.
A lawyer for the groups said the suit, filed in federal court, is the first of its kind in Canada under the Species at Risk Act. The environmental groups want the federal government to step in and use the act to prevent the loss of the spotted owl because, they argue, the provincial government hasn’t taken adequate action.
The government of British Columbia called the suit frivolous and accused the environmental groups of grandstanding while the province works to find ways to save the owls without completely banning logging in their old-growth forest habitat.
“We take our commitment towards creating the most sustainable environment anywhere in the world very seriously,” said Pat Bell, British Columbia’s Agriculture and Lands Minister.
“I just find it very unfortunate that a few isolated organizations decide to utilize this opportunity to grandstand,” he said. “They know the efforts that this government has put into the protection of species at risk.”
Wu said the lawsuit is serious.
“It’s not grandstanding,” he said. “The extinction of a species from a province is a very important concern, and the B.C. Liberal government will have it all over their hands.”
The Seattle Audubon Society has launched a similar lawsuit in the United States. There are about 6,100 spotted owls left in the northwestern U.S.
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