Threatened Endangered Species

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is charged with watching out for threatened and endangered species. Scientists consider a plant or animal type as threatened when it is likely to become endangered in the near future, and it is then listed as endangered if facing extinction through­ out all or a significant portion of its range. As of this writing, the constantly changing list of threatened and endangered species in the United States includes 1,374 plants and animals. From time to time the agency will add plants and animals to the list if they meet the strict legal requirements. They are occasionally removed from the list if: (1) they were erroneously placed on the list for one reason or another; (2) they have now gone extinct so that they no longer exist; or (3) their populations have recovered.

As you can imagine, each and every species that is listed and then delisted has an interesting story. For example, the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl joined the list because biologists found very few of them in their range of southern Arizona, Texas, and northern Mexico. But then because of litigation, the owl was delisted. The debate rages on about whether or not they should be listed. The American alligator, on the other hand, was put on the list when its numbers plummeted because of hunting for its valuable hide. But now the numbers have recovered; they are again becoming a pest and have been removed from the list. The most recent delisting because of extinction was the dusky seaside sparrow, a non-migratory songbird that used to live and nest in the marshes of Merritt Island and along the St. Johns River in south Florida. First their habitat was flooded to control mosquitoes, and then drained to help with highway building. After that one-two punch that nearly took the sparrows out, pesticides and continued habitat destruction from development led to their complete extinction; the last one dying on June 17, 1987.

Habitat destruction, hunting, and collecting are the most common perils to plants and animals that end up on the threatened and endangered species list. To be good stewards of God’s creation, we would do well to learn about the plants and animals that He has placed here for our pleasure and care for them to the best of our ability.