Rat poison from marijuana farms is harming federally threatened northern spotted owls, study finds

A northern spotted owl sits in a tree in the Deschutes National Forest near Camp Sherman, Ore. (Don Ryan / Associated Press) 

Louis Sahagun Contact Reporter

The northern spotted owl has had many adversaries.

Three decades ago it was loggers, whose forays into the remote forests of the Pacific Northwest threatened the shy creatures, which have zero tolerance for the clatter of development.

Then it was the more aggressive and adaptable barred owls, which began moving into protected northern spotted owl habitats, forcing the federally threatened species to colonize less productive foraging grounds elsewhere…