Extinction Crisis: Help Save Species Before It's Too Late
Already in the United States thousands of species – from elk and river otters to frogs and orchids – have been pushed toward extinction because the land and water they depend on has been polluted, paved over, or destroyed.
To save and recover these imperiled plants and animals, we have the strongest law in the world for protecting species: the Endangered Species Act. But it can only work if we use it. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has recently refused protections for more than 259 imperiled plants and animals in the United States that are critically close to extinction. Instead of taking action now, the administration put them on a waiting list, where they'll remain without protection for years or even decades.
We must take action today to tell the administration to do right by plants and animals that desperately need protection.
If we do nothing, species like these will go extinct in our lifetimes: the Pacific fisher, a fierce but imperiled carnivore that lives in fast-disappearing old-growth forests along the West Coast; Montana fluvial Arctic grayling, a near-extinct purple-silver fish; and the Black Warrior waterdog, a large, gilled salamander that's been waiting for protection since 1991.
We need to get them on the endangered species list immediately – because that's the only way that killing them becomes illegal and the only way to save their habitat from logging, bulldozing and other forms of destruction. Please fill in the form below to add your name to our petition to President Obama and then share with all your friends. Thank you for being part of the solution.
Dear President Obama,
The Endangered Species Act is the strongest law in the world for protecting species from extinction. But this landmark law only protects species after they have been added to the lists of threatened and endangered species. It is for this reason that I am deeply concerned about the continued denial of protection for 251 species that have been waiting for help for decades, languishing on the government's list of Endangered Species Act "candidate" species. I urge you to provide immediate protection to these species, many of which are on the brink of extinction.
On Nov. 10, your administration released the latest review of these "candidate" species. Rather than providing protection for the 251 identified in this document, however, you have decided to continue to delay their protection. On average, these species have been waiting 20 years for protection, during which time they have continued to decline or in some cases disappeared forever. Indeed, at least 24 species have gone extinct after being designated a candidate for protection, including the Louisiana prairie vole, Tacoma pocket gopher, San Gabriel Mountains blue butterfly and Sangre de Cristo peaclam. Additional extinctions of candidate species can only be avoided by providing immediate protection to these 251 species.
Extinction cannot be reversed. All of these 251 species are part of our natural heritage and are too precious to lose. Among those awaiting protections are: the Pacific fisher, a relative of the mink and otter that is the only animal that regularly preys on porcupines and is threatened by loss of old-growth forests on the West Coast; the elfin-woods warbler, a striking black and white songbird from the mountains of Puerto Rico threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation and that has been waiting for protection since 1982; and the Black Warrior waterdog, a large gilled salamander that is known from just 14 streams in the Black Warrior River system in Alabama and has been waiting for protection since 1991.
In signing this petition, I urge you to provide immediate protection to these 251 species.
