United States declares king woodpecker and 22 other species extinct

The United States government has declared the king woodpecker and 22 other birds, fish and other species extinct.

It is unusual for wildlife authorities to write down a plant or animal, but government scientists said they had exhausted their efforts to find these 23.

Also, warned that climate change, as well as other phenomena, may make these disappearances more frequentas global warming adds to the dangers already suffered by endangered plants and animals.

The ivory-billed woodpecker, or real peakIt was perhaps the best-known species on the list released Wednesday by the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). He vanished in emotion, with unconfirmed sightings over the past few decades triggering a succession of ultimately unsuccessful searches in the swamps of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.

Others, like the marshall clam, a freshwater bivalve that lived in the southeastern United States, has only been identified in the field a few times and has never been seen again, meaning that by the time they received a name, they were fading.

The factors behind their disappearance vary: too much development, water pollution, deforestation, competition with invasive species, birds hunted for their feathers and animals captured by private collectors. In all cases, the final cause was the human being..

Another thing they shared was that the 23 had at least a slim chance of survival when they were listed as endangered, from the 1960s. In the nearly half a century since the signing of the Endangered Species Act, only 11 species had been withdrawn due to extinction. Wednesday’s announcement kicked off a three-month consultation period before the change became final.

Across the planet, the extinction of 902 species has been documented. The actual number is believed to be much higher as some have never been identified, and many scientists warn that Earth is experiencing an “extinction crisis” in which types of flora and fauna are disappearing 1,000 times faster than before.

Some of the 23 species in the new ad may reappear, according to several scientists.

John Fitzpatrick, a bird biologist at Cornell University and lead author of a 2005 study that the royal woodpecker was identified in eastern Arkansas, said it was premature to declare it extinct after having spent millions of dollars to find and conserve habitat.

“Keeping it on the endangered species list keeps the attention on it, makes states think about habitat management if it still exists,” he said.

The statement responded to recommendations accumulated over the years to update the designation of different species, according to federal officials. Removing these species from the list, they noted, would free up resources for conservation efforts on the ground for species that still have a chance to recover.

Since 1975, 54 species have recovered from the endangered list, including the bald eagle, brown pelican and most humpback whales..

Climate change complicates recovery by causing droughts, floods, forest fires and temperature changes that exacerbate the threats species already face.

The way to save them has also changed. The objective is no longer specific species, but to preserve their habitat, which protects all the flora and fauna of the place.

“We don’t have the resources to unilaterally prevent extinctions,” said biologist Michelle Bogardus of the Hawaii Wildlife Service. “We need to proactively think about the health of the ecosystem, how we maintain it, given all of these threats.”

(With AP information)

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