'No easy answer': the endangered owls that can only be saved by killing other owls

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum depicts how northern spotted owls are being protected . . . by culling their near relativesOne of the world's most distinctive avian hunters, the northern spotted owl, is fitted with an ID ring by conservationists in this stark, black-and-white image taken by US photographer Morgan Heim. The photograph is one of six from a portfolio by Heim which will be unveiled this week at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.Heim's dramatic photographs - which have been highly commended in the competition's photojournalism story award - reveal the desperate attempts that are now being made by conservationists to try to save the threatened northern spotted owl. These efforts include shooting rival owl species in a bid to protect the bird from a series of devastating ecological blows that have afflicted it in recent years. Continue reading...