21 Species Removed from Endangered List
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has taken nearly two dozen animal species off of the endangered list, and that’s bad news because it means there’s no hope for them. The animals – one mammal, 10 types of birds, two species of fish, and eight types of mussels – are too far gone to warrant protection.
USFWS director Martha Williams waved the white flag in an agency press release: “Federal protection came too late to reverse these species’ decline, and it’s a wake-up call on the importance of conserving imperiled species before it’s too late.”
Most of the species were listed under the Endangered Species Act in the 1970s or 1980s, when they were already very low in numbers or possibly even extinct at the time of listing. The one mammal on the list – the little Mariana fruit bat of Guam – had been listed in 1984 but was last seen in 1968.
The other delisted creatures, from the Molokai creeper of Hawaii (a bird) to the turgid-blossom pearly mussel of the American South, likely succumbed years ago to the pressures of habitat loss, invasive species, disease, and of course climate change.
“As we commemorate 50 years of the Endangered Species Act this year, we are reminded of the Act’s purpose to be a safety net that stops the journey toward extinction,” said Williams. “The ultimate goal is to recover these species, so they no longer need the Act’s protection.”
The ESA has had its share of success, too. The USFWS claims credit for saving 99% of all listed species from extinction, with more than 100 species of plants and animals delisted based on recovery of their populations – and not, like the 21 recent delistees, on the futility of trying to save them.
Greenpeace
Photo credit: University of Guam
