The Endangered Species Act Prohibits New Species?

By admin

endangered speaciesRepublicans are now targeting the Endangered Species Act of 1973  proposing that the new budget would prevent any new listing for new endangered species to be added to the existing list.

From another angle just last week, the Obama administration agreed verbally to expand the protection for endangered species provided the agreement is approved by the federal courts. If the federal courts approve the agreement, the government will have up to year 2018 to decide if the Pacific Walrus, Northern Wolverine, and the Miami Blue Butterfly should be given protection under the endangered species law.

The twist comes with members of the Safari Club declaring their rights to hunt animals are under threat. Under the former agreements, they are given the rights to hunt down animals like the New England Cottontail Rabbit, among others. They would want these rights recognized.

It’s a messy situation which gets more complicated because there is a growing list of animals being proposed for inclusion into the Endangered Species Act. Many of these proposals date back to more than 10 years ago without any movement for or against the proposals. In other words, these proposals have been in limbo for years, mainly because of budget constraints. Unfortunately, 24 animals have become extinct while waiting for any kind of action on the proposals.

According to Kieren Suckling of the Center for Biological Diversity, “We’re dealing with the ultimate stakes of life and death.”

Add to this compelling drama are the multiple lawsuits filed against Fish and Wildlife Service for various reasons. These cases have taken priority over the lives of endangered animals thereby making the efforts of this agency burdened and fund-consuming.

It’s ridiculous to compare the lives of animals to the pursuit of hunting for pleasure or killing animals for money. Hopefully, this madness will stop, and it is something that isn’t just happening in the U.S. It is a situation repeated all across the globe. At one point, something has to give. As pointed out by Nicole Rosmarino of the WildEarth Guardians, “The Endangered Species Act is out nation’s key environmental law but it does not help species until they are actually listed.”

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What are endangered species?

By admin

RhinocerosWhat are endangered species? Which animals are more at risk of extinction than others? Let’s take a closer look at the endangered species today.

Endangered species are organisms at risk of becoming extinct due to threats by the surrounding environment or predation parameters. Climate change is an important factor causing the extinction. Many countries have laws to protect endangered species. As of 2009, 191 countries have agreed to create Biodiversity Action Plans to protect endangered and threatened species.

Just how many endangered species are there? The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation and it has calculated that there are 55,926 species and 33% of these were known to be threatened (as of April 2010 research report). That’s 18,351 endangered species in total and it is said that this is a minimum estimate.

Many species are not even evaluated due to inefficient data. If we assume that such species are endangered, the number of known and assumed threatened species will be 21,610 species (39% of all species assessed). Therefore and estimated total of 18,351 – 21,610 endangered species exist.

So how many of these are endangered animals? Data shows us that out of all existing 42,253 animals, there are 9,618 endangered animals. So, about 22% of all animals are endangered animals. In addition, we have very little information on 7,532 animals. If we assume that such animals are endangered, the number of known and assumed endangered animals will be 17,150 (41% of all species assessed). We can therefore estimate that in total there are 9,618 to 17,150 endangered animals.

IUCN maintains the Red List of Threatened Species, which is a system designed to determine the relative risk of extinction, and highlight animals as well as plants that are facing a risk of worldwide extinction. The Red list catalogues each species into following categories:

Extinct;

Extinct in the wild;

Critically endangered;

Endangered;

Vulnerable;

Near threatened;

Least concern;

Data deficient; and

Not evaluated

According to IUCN, endangered species are critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable species.

Now let’s explore categories mentioned above into more detail.

Unfortunately some animals have already “extinct”. These include Thylacine, Dodo, Passenger Pigeon, Caribbean Monk Seal, Steller’s Sea Cow, Javan Tiger, Aurochs, Elephant Bird, Woolly Mammoth, Tyrannosaurus and so on.

There are endangered animals that have already “extinct in the wild”, meaning they do exist but only in cultivation and so there is no natural population. Examples inlcude Red-tailed Black Shark, Hawaiian Crow, Wyoming Toad, Socorro Dove, Scimitar Oryx and so on.

Next, “critically endangered” animals face an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate futuer. These include Mountain Gorilla, Bactrian Camel, Ethiopian Wolf, Saiga, Arakan Forest Turtle, Sumatran Rhinoceros, Javan Rhino, Brazilian Merganser, Axolotl, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Northern White Rhinoceros, Gharial, Vaquita, Philippine Eagle, Brown Spider Monkey, California Condor, Black Rhinoceros, Chinese Alligator and so on.

“Endangered animals” face a very high risk of extinction in the near future. Examples include Dhole, Blue Whale, Asian Elephant, Giant Panda, Snow Leopard, African Wild Dog, Green Sea Turtle, Malayan Tapir, Tiger, Steller’s Sea Lion, Philippine Eagle, Bornean Orangutan, and Grevy’s Zebra.

Finally, “vulnerable” animals face a high risk of extinction in the mid-term future. These include African Elephant, Cheetah, Gaur, Lion, Sloth Bear, Dugong, Polar Bear, Indian Rhinoceros, Great White Shark, Hippopotamus and so on.

There are ways to help protect the endangered animals. We shall take a closer look at what we can do in the next articles to come.

Categories: endangered animals
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