Spotted Owl In Captivity -- Is Life In A Zoo The Only Way To Save Species?

Harriet, believed to be the only northern spotted owl on display in the United States, perches on a dead cedar branch in an enclosure at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.

The generously spotted bird looks like a winged Buddha - round-headed, contemplative, showing no movement except for occasionally blinking her eyelids over brown eyes.

She looks wise. Aren't all owls wise?

Her keeper, Jean Ragland-McMahan, says some have called her ``stupid'' because she's so placid.

Their insults may have other roots as well: The spotted owl(stryx occidentalis) has become the most visible symbol of the struggle between environmentalists who want to preserve the Northwest's old-growth forests and the timber industry, which believes spotted owls and old-growth logging can co-exist.

On a recent cloudy afternoon in the Family Farm section of the zoo, a woman with two young children in tow shot a glance at Harriet's cage and identification plaque and said, ``Hmm, a spotted owl; so they want to stop logging to preserve that.''

A few minutes later, a man accompanied by several small boys stopped at the cage and said, ``There he is, boys: a northern spotted owl. They say that if we don't save him, a lot of other creatures could disappear from the forest.''

Later this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to decide whether to list Harriet and her relatives as a threatened or endangered species. If it does, there will be a dramatic reduction of available harvestable timber in the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of logging and mill jobs could be lost.

The father at the zoo was right in his characterization: Biologists see the owl as an ``indicator species,'' saying the bird's survival is a good gauge of the health of rich ecosystems of old-growth forests, most of which have never been logged.

Politicians and experts on both sides of the old-growth debate are throwing out potential solutions, often based on contradictory information.

The most recent was offered by Jim Hughes, deputy assistant interior secretary for land and minerals, who says the agency may advocate the captive breeding of spotted owls. This, he says, would save the threatened species and allow the cutting of old-growth forests where the owls live. It also would square with President Bush's statements that the owl must be saved and so must jobs in the timber industry.

Hughes made his remarks after accompanying Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan to The Peregrine Fund's Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

Bill Burnham, the fund's executive director, didn't share Hughes' enthusiasm.

The breeding part, he says, is no problem. ``We've bred about 22 different species of birds of prey, raising about 4,000 young, so I'm pretty sure it can be done with the northern spotted owl.

``But the question is, where would you put the spotted owls? They need a special habitat. If it's gone, they'd have to live forever in zoos.''

Katherine McKeever, who runs the Owl Rehabilitation Research Foundation, Ontario, Canada, says she's not even sure The Peregrine Fund is capable of breeding northern spotted owls that could survive five minutes in the wild, ``presuming there was any old-growth left for them to live in.''

``Peregrine specializes in diurnal birds of prey, such as falcons, eagles and hawks,'' said McKeever. ``Owls are nocturnal birds.''

McKeever says the northern spotted owl is almost certainly doomed if old-growth forests are cut - ``if they aren't already.''

She notes that there are only about a dozen spotted owls left in all of British Columbia, ``where we have cut everything in sight.''

``If you folks let that happen in Washington,'' she said, ``you are even stupider than we were, because you have us as a bad example.''

It is common to hear at loggers' protest rallies claims that northern spotted owls have been found alive and well in second-growth timber, so why the fuss?

``Spotted owls aren't surviving in second-growth Douglas fir and hemlock,'' said McKeever. ``It would take generations of spotted owls to acclimatize to second-growth in Washington's forest, and they aren't going to live long enough to do it.''

Still, the loggers are right when they say spotted owls do survive in some second-growth.

Allan Franklin of the Department of Natural Resources at Humboldt State University, Arcata, Calif., says ``quite a few'' northern spotted owls have been found in 70-year-old second-growth Redwoods in Northern California. But he cautions against drawing any parallels with Washington state's forests.

``You have to remember,'' Franklin said, ``that Northern California isn't like Washington state. Our weather is different. Our soil is different. The animals are different.

``Our redwoods simply grow a lot faster than Douglas firs do up your way. They are, for all practical purposes, old growth in less than 100 years.''

Franklin takes a dim view of captive breeding of northern spotted owls, saying, ``It does not seem like an appropriate response to the problem.''

Northern California's timber industry is fighting back with its own biological studies.

In the past few months, says Lowell Diller, Simpson Timber Co. biologist in Arcata, Calif., he and his crews have prowled the Northern California woods - often called ``the spotted owl capital of the world'' - and formed some conclusions that ``run directly counter to the prevailing dogma about owls.''

Diller, a former college professor, says that in Northern California:

-- Spotted owls flourish in mixed Douglas fir-hardwood second-growth and ``even pure Douglas fir'' second-growth as well as in towering second-growth redwoods.

-- A newborn spotted owl was found in a nest within 50 feet of a clear-cut, and numerous spotted owl nests were found close to clear-cuts.

-- A spotted-owl census indicates that a pair of spotted owls may be able to get along nicely in as few as 500 acres; that's in sharp contrast with previously published acreage requirements - 4,500 acres per pair in Washington's Olympic National Forest and 1,500 acres per pair in California.

Diller cautions that all the studies so far are preliminary. ``But I'm convinced,'' he said, ``that spotted owls do not need old-growth trees to survive.''

The woman for whom Harriet the owl at Woodland Park is named disagrees. Vehemently.

Harriet Allen is manager of the endangered-species program of the state Department of Wildlife in Olympia. She is not fond of having an owl named after her, calling it ``embarrassing.''

Yet, she pulls no punches in her advocacy of northern spotted owls, of which there are about 600 pairs in Washington state, 80 percent living in national forests and the bulk of those in the Cascades.

Commenting on the Interior Department's apparent belief that breeding spotted owls would end the controversy, Allen says:

``Nobody doubts you can breed them. But what good does it do to breed something if it can't ever survive on its own in a suitable habitat? You cut all the old-growth and you sign their death warrant.''

Still, there's plenty of old-growth already set aside in national parks in Washington state, timber interests say. Millions of acres.

Allen says that argument sounds fine at loggers' rallies, but it doesn't stand up to close inspection.

``There are only about 150 pairs of northern spotted owls on the entire Olympic Peninsula,'' said Allen, pinpointing one of the hotbeds of discontent over closure of forests to protect the creature.

``The reason is that the forests in Olympic National Park and in most other national parkland in this state are shaped like a doughnut. There are lots of mountains, rocks and ice, in the hole, and not much in the way of big old-growth around them.

``Spotted owls aren't going to live in alpine fir. They need the big old-growth at the lower levels.''

Harriet - the spotted owl, that is - is forever destined to life in captivity, having injured a wing a few years ago. She could not survive in the wild.

Harriet has a look-alike at the Woodland Park Zoo and in Washington state forests. It is known as the barred owl, and it so strongly resembles the northern spotted owl that you might not be able to tell them apart in the wild.

Both have round heads and no ear tufts. But if you look closely, you will notice that the barred owl is a bit larger. It has bars, rather than spots, on its breast.

The barred owl also is much more adaptable and aggressive than its first cousin, the spotted owl.

The barred owl can be seen at Woodland Park's Raptor Center along with eagles and other owls. In the wild, it survives in both old-growth and second-growth.

Ragland-McMahan, a keeper at the zoo's Family Farm and a student of owls, says the barred owl is a fairly recent arrival in the Pacific Northwest.

It long has flourished in the East and Midwest, and it wasn't until 1974 that it first was sighted in this state. Two years ago, an estimated 200 pairs were sighted.

Their number is increasing. A pair nested for a time in Seattle's Discovery Park.

Those who feel we should accept the demise of the spotted owl if we can have the barred owl, miss the whole point, says McKeever, Canada's owl expert.

``It isn't just the owls, it's the whole of the food chain from the smallest micro-organisms to the top of the food chain. Owls are just a part of the food chain.

``Yes, I sympathize with people losing their jobs in the logging industry. Yes, I do think trees should be cut. But not the remaining old-growth.

``Given another million years and another Ice Age, we might produce another old-growth forest out there.

``But we won't be around for that. Once these old-growth firs and hemlocks in the Pacific Northwest are cut, they are gone forever.''