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Plea To Expand Endangered List
TUCSON, Ariz., May 5, 2004

Scientists, including acclaimed wildlife biologist Jane Goodall, joined environmental groups Tuesday in petitioning the government to add 225 plants and animals to the endangered species list.

The species are not new to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; four-fifths have been on the agency's waiting list for a decade. Some have been waiting since 1975. The average is 17 years.

Goodall, known for her pioneering research on chimpanzees, signed the petitions, joined by other prominent scientists including biologists E.O. Wilson of Harvard University and Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, actor Martin Sheen, and literary lions including Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver and former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass.

"Wildlife is facing serious threats almost everywhere," said Goodall, accusing the Bush administration of seeking to undermine the Endangered Species Act.

"It is too late to save the California grizzly bear, the eastern cougar, the Carolina parakeet, the passenger pigeon, or the silver trout. They became extinct before America created the Endangered Species Act, our modern day Noah’s Ark," said Hass. "But we’re not too late to save the 225 plants and animals "languishing on the federal candidate list. It’s time to open the doors of the ark and let them in. They should be placed on the endangered species list as soon as possible."

Eleven individuals and three environmental organizations filed the petitions, said Brian Nowicki, a conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, which organized the effort.

A spokesman for the Interior Department accused the Tucson-based group of misrepresenting the realities of the endangered species program. Hugh Vickery attributed a decline in listing new species to "a flood of lawsuits" filed by the center and other plaintiffs since 1997.

The 225 species listed in the petitions are from 39 states, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Mariana and Northern Mariana islands and American Samoa. Nearly half are from Hawaii.

The species the environmental groups want protected include the Oregon spotted frog - waiting since 1991; the Aquarius paintbrush, a Utah plant, and the white fringeless orchid, found in several southern states, both waiting since 1975; the yellowcheek darter, an Arkansas fish, wait-listed since 1975; and the Hawaiian band-rumped storm petrel, a bird waiting since 1989.

More than 1,200 species have been placed on the endangered list since the Endangered Species Act became law in 1973, Nowicki said. The Bush administration has listed only 31 species as endangered, in contrast to an average of 65 a year by the Clinton administration and 59 a year under the first President Bush.

The Center for Biological Diversity is calling on the Bush administration to ask Congress for the $153 million the Fish and Wildlife Service has said it would need to expand the endangered species list and protect the habitats of the new arrivals on the list.

The environmental group notes that the White House has asked Congress for only $12 million in the current year.

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Fixed subject line.

Edited on May 6, 2004 at 21:35:03 by phwyvern.

Sorry - I was apparently posting white text on a white background so couldn't tell it was working!

I kind of have mixed views on the value of the Endangered Species List. While ...yes the status of these animals Definitly needs to be addressed...I don't believe that listing these animals (under the existing regulations)is in anyway a cure for their problems...and in fact might make their situation more perilous.

For many of the animals listed, the only hope they would have is Habitat Protection. This is a very desireable solution to the problem except...For the interests of man. As long as our population increases, our needs will continue to surplant any real efforts at preservation.

I am reminded of what has happened in parts of Australia, where laws against collecting or even photographing animals were put in place. The logic being...That if no one knew the animals existed..no one would stop the mining and other interests that would destroy their habitat.

For other species that can be bred in captivity, the loss of Habitat can at least be countered by captive production. This allready has had a possitive effect in the reduction of stress on wild populations of many species that suffered due to over collecting.

The San Francisco garter snake for example (which is bred in Europe)would be common in collections if it were not on the endangered list. Instead it's small habitat is being destroyed and it's fate is questionable at best. Being on the list prevents any attempts by the American public to breed this species.

All things being said....I really am not sure if the listing of less species on the Endangered list is a bad thing.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

The San Francisco garter snake for example (which is bred in Europe)would be common in collections if it were not on the endangered list. Instead it's small habitat is being destroyed and it's fate is questionable at best. Being on the list prevents any attempts by the American public to breed this species.

This is true for many other species as well. For instance, why would a breeder want to jump through all the hoops to breed an endangered animal (permits/inspections/extra expenses with both/licenses/etc.) when he could breed a very similar animal without all the problems associated with breeding the former?

Why do many animals almost disappear from their native habitat once exporting them becomes illegal? Because they then have no value to the native people anymore, and their habitat is then used for other purposes, and the native people no longer protect what once was their means of income.

What's really funny is to see how the environmentalists go nuts when an animals is taken off the endangered species list! Are they happy because the animal is doing so well that it is no longer endangered? Nope, they yell and scream and want it put back on!

And then again, we get back to computer models to predict numbers of species extinctions, which is more utter nonsense. And then there all the frauds by environmental groups, that we all end up paying for in the end, that we know have been directly attributable to the endangered species act.

Rodney

Sad but true Rodney....

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."