Government announces spotted-owl rescue plan
The Canadian Press
Published: Saturday, April 29, 2006
The B.C. government is launching a five-year action plan to rebuild the province's endangered spotted owl population, which now is estimated at 22 birds.

The government will spend $3.4 million on a spotted owl recovery program that focuses on captive breeding and release initiatives and plans to move the owls to new locations, Agriculture and Lands Minister Pat Bell said Friday.

Environmental groups said the government plan does not do enough to protect the forest habitat of spotted owls.

It appears the government is doing only enough to prevent the extinction of spotted owls before the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, a Sierra Legal Defence Fund spokesman said. "It's a public relations plan to try and ensure that the spotted owl doesn't go extinct before the Olympics," said defence fund spokesman Devon Page.