Chicago zoos, aquarium: Don’t weaken Endangered Species Act
Our gift of sharing this world with fascinating creatures, including pallid sturgeon, polar bears and whooping cranes, depends on their ability to flourish and thrive — something that has become impossible without their protection.
The Endangered Species Act is recognized globally as a model for species preservation and has been credited with preventing the extinction of a vast majority of species it protects. In fact, the act has shown a 90 percent recovery rate in more than 100 species that are listed under its protections throughout the United States. This powerful tool is now at risk of becoming weakened if proposed administrative rule changes are implemented — rule changes that could put some of our most beloved animals at risk.
Currently, there are more than 2,300 species — plants and animals — listed as threatened or endangered under the Act. Since 1973, it has helped the recovery process for iconic species such as the bald eagle, American bison and humpback whale, while advancing efforts to protect local species like the Hine’s emerald dragonfly, the Topeka shiner and the rusty patched bumble bee. These are just a few examples.
On behalf of Chicago’s accredited zoos and aquarium, we need your help. As organizations that care for animals, some of which are endangered, threatened or extinct in the wild, we are asking Chicagoarea residents to encourage the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Department of Commerce to withdraw the proposed removal of protections to threatened and endangered species before the end of the public comment period on Sept. 24.
The act, like every law, can be improved and has been continuously over four decades since its inception. Those adjustments to the act have been rooted in scientifically based intentions to improve the protections for species facing threats of extinction. There are, however, specific proposed administrative rule changes that would undermine the data-driven foundation of the Endangered Species Act, which could jeopardize protections of important animals and their wild habitats and put species at risk of extinction.
The proposed changes move away from science-based conservation, make it more difficult to designate certain areas of habitat as “critical” for species survival, and scale back protections for “threatened” species. These aspects of the act offer protections from human influence and complex environmental forces like drought, habitat loss from flooding, extreme temperatures, range change, and other impacts associated with climate change.
We ask each of you to join us in raising your voices, sharing your stories and defending the sciencebased implementation of the Endangered Species Act before it goes under review this fall. Collectively our voices can make an impact for wildlife. You can do this by signing our petition: http://www.sheddaquarium.org/raiseyourvoice.
Together, we have a duty to save endangered and threatened animals and the places they live. As habitats shrink, biodiversity declines and animals face threats from human development and a changing climate, we must increase protections for endangered species, not undermine them.