Endangered Species: Here Today, Here Tomorrow?
Endangered Species: Here Today, Here Tomorrow?
Highlights of key endangered species awareness campaigns in 2023
LEEP Calendar includes over 400 animal events annually. My goal with this issue is to highlight events tied to animals you may not know existed, their plight, and some of the organizations trying to protect them.
SPECIES BY THE NUMBERS
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCNN) notes that 881 animal species have become extinct since 1500 AD when it instituted recordkeeping. The actual number is believed to be in the thousands. Most concerning is the speed at which extinction is occurring. What historically occurs over 800 -10,000 years now frequently happens in less than 200 years. For context, a mass extinction event is defined as 75 percent of species disappearing within two million years. There have been five in the past 500 million years, none caused by human activity. Lava was the most common cause.
Currently, more than 40,000 species are threatened with extinction, including 1,445 birds, 2,488 amphibians, 1,839 reptiles, and 1,333 mammals.
There is some good news. Between 1993 and 2020, global conservation efforts prevented the extinction of 32 bird species and 16 mammals. These awareness events seek to improve those numbers through communication, education, fundraising, and in-field efforts.
Endangered Species Day is May 19, 2023.
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A quick warning—Since most of these animals are endangered, some descriptions and videos contain disturbing images of poaching, using the animals and their parts for superstition or vanity gratification, and the effect on the animals themselves. Viewer/reader discretion is advised.
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We'll start with my favorite, the mammal that makes me want to rush through the wet markets of Asia and free them all—the sweet, shy, insect-devouring pangolin.
WORLD PANGOLIN DAY
Date: February 18, 2023
Location: Worldwide
Featured Champion: Annamiticus
World Pangolin Day raises awareness about the importance and plight of the pangolins.
Pangolins, when threatened, curl up into a ball ranging from the size of a volleyball to a large flub. Their scales, a unique characteristic for a mammal, protect them from natural predators, but their balling and passivity make them very easy to handle, abuse, and cage by humans. Though they look like an anteater or scaly armadillos, they are most closely related to wolves and bears. Pangolins range in size from a house cat to a medium-weight dog and support the ecosystem by reducing insect populations, particularly termites.
The eight pangolin species live in Asia and Africa and are becoming endangered due to their status as the world's most trafficked animal. These gentle and shy mammals are highly sought after in Asia for their scales and tender meat, which is expensive and considered a status symbol when eaten.
Like many rare animal parts, though nothing more than keratin (the material comprising fingernails), pangolin scales are sought for several thoroughly debunked alternative and natural medicines; essentially, they're killed for vanity and superstition. Not a single medical application using pangolin parts, ranging from alieving arthritis to menstrual cramps, has been scientifically proven effective.
Pangolin scales are sought as good luck charms for wealth attraction and to protect from evil spirits. Science has found zero correlation between carrying a pangolin scale and wealth accumulation or protection from malfeasance. The only wealth created goes to the poachers and black market vendors.
And then there is the quest for male virility for which many animals, from tigers to gorillas, are sacrificed on the altar of potency myths. (Here is where it gets disgusting). Men in some Asian cultures believe eating a stewed pangolin fetus enhances their sexual efficacy and vigor. It doesn't. Pangolins reproduce just one offspring a year; each fetus destroys two—the mother whose belly is sliced open and the baby inside.
Apologies—that got a tad gruesome. The pangolin is a fantastic animal and so easy to love. Watching them interact with people who are kind to them is breathtaking. Seeing them abused is gutwrenching.
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INTERNATIONAL SAVE THE VAQUITA DAY
Date: July 6, 2023—if the last ten survives until then.
Location: Baja Mexico, Worldwide
Featured Champion: Viva Vaquita
The vaquita is the most endangered marine mammal in the world. This exquisite porpoise with spot-dog eyes lives in the northernmost portions of the Gulf of California and averages four to five feet (1.5-2 meters) in length. Gestation is ten months, and a vaquita cow can only birth one calf a year, and that calf requires five years to mature to adulthood. Currently, ten vaquitas exist in the wild, with none in captivity. Since their discovery in 1958, their numbers have declined by 50 percent annually.
Vaquitas face extinction due to illegal fishing. Like the pangolin, the vaquita's plight is due to poaching, in this case, for the totoaba, a similarly-sized fish. The totoaba's swim bladder is used in alternative medicines in China, and the rarity of the fish fetches a high price there. The illegal gillnets used to scoop up totoaba trap the vaquita underwater and, as mammals, cause them to drown.
International Save the Vaquita Day brings awareness to this animal and illegal fishing before it disappears forever.
In addition to this day, March 2023 is set aside to protect and raise awareness about this critically endangered species.
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KEY DEER DAY
Date: March 11, 2023
Location: United States, Florida
Champion: National Key Deer Refuge
Key deer are a sub-species of the North American white tale deer and native to the southernmost Florida Keys. The miniature deer average 25-35 inches (64 - 89 centimeters) high at the shoulder, making them roughly the same size as a Labrador Retriever. Key deer landed on the endangered species list on March 11, 1967, when only a few dozen remained. Today they are protected and swim from island to island, with the majority living in the national refuge.
Key Deer Day is an awareness campaign that focuses on educating and protecting the habitat of this fun size deer and its tropical paradise habitat.
INTERNATIONAL POLAR BEAR DAY
Date: February 27, 2023
Location: Worldwide
Champion: Polar Bear International
International Polar Bear Day raises awareness of the plight of the polar bear. Climate change and industrial enterprises in the arctic circle have had a devastating effect on the natural habitat of the polar bear. The sea ice and permafrost are disappearing, and many polar bears become stranded or starve. International Polar Bear Day is an effort to affect change, save the polar bear, and bring awareness to the environmental impact of human activities.
As of 2023, approximately 26,000 polar bears remain on earth. There is also an International Polar Bear Week from November 5-11, 2023.
WORLD HONEY BEE DAY
Date: August 19, 2023
Location: Worldwide
Champion: HoneyLove
Created in 2009 with USDA backing following lobbying efforts from American beekeepers alarmed by declining bee populations due to herbicide use, Honey Bee Day evolved into an international campaign. There are several types of honey bees, with each showing preference for different crops.
If you grew up before the 1990s, you probably remember seeing many bees in the summer. They were everywhere—anywhere there were flowers. Take a walk around your neighborhood today, and more likely than not, you won't see a single bee. Where did they all go?
Bee populations have declined 90 percent in the United States since 1962 due to insecticides and other chemicals, disease, global warming, and deforestation. Bees, butterflies, birds, and bats are essential to pollination; food won't grow without them. A recent Harvard study found that global crop yields have declined three to five percent due to this significant loss in pollinators. Fortunately, one threat, the bacterial disease American foulbrood, which can wipe out an entire bee colony in three weeks, now has a vaccine. The first ever USDA-approved bee vaccine will be available to beekeepers in the spring of 2023.
There are an estimated 20,000 different species of bees. Several have gone extinct (13 in the United Kingdom) in the past 30 years, and others, including the honey bee, are endangered or threatened. On December 13, 2022, the US Department of Fish and Wildlife Services announced the creation of the Center for Pollinator Conservation, providing research and funds for the preservation of bees and other pollinators.
In addition to World Honey Bee Day, World Bee Day on May 20 was first held in 2018. World Bee Day is a United Nations and Republic of Slovenia initiative.
MANATEE APPRECIATION DAY
Date: March 29, 2023
Location: United States
Featured Champion: Jimmy Buffet's Save the Manatee Club
Manatees, sometimes called sea cows, are marine mammals resembling the combination of a seal and a walrus. These gentle giants inhabit rivers, canals, saltwater bays, estuaries, and coastal areas along the southeastern United States. They spend the winter in Florida and migrate north to Virginia and Texas in the summer months. The advent of power boats, which often collide with the animals, coupled with overhunting in the past for their meat, oil, and hides, has placed the manatee on the Endangered Species List.
In 1972, the manatee was designated a marine mammal protected under the Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. By 1979, Florida Governor Bob Graham declared Manatee Awareness Month (November), thus authorizing the first state-designated protection zones for the marine mammal. In 1980 the US Congress followed suit with a US$ 100 thousand allocation to the Marine Mammal Commission and the development of the initial Federal Manatee Recovery Plan by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
SAVE THE FLORIDA PANTHER DAY
Date: March 18, 2023
Location: United States, State of Florida
Champion: State of Florida
In 2015, Florida Governor Rick Scott created Save the Florida Panther Day, allocating US$ 150 million toward land acquisition and management to focus on protecting land for the Florida panther. The historic funding and focus on Florida's ecosystem ensure and protects the Florida panther and its domain. The Florida panther once roamed throughout the southeastern United States, and today, it can only be found in Florida's forests and The Everglades.
In 1967, ten panthers remained in the wild, and eight breeding females were brought in from Texas. Today that number is closer to 200. On July 24, 2021, the state passed the Wildlife Corridor Act, facilitating the movement of the big cats within their territories and expanding the gene pool.
ORANGUTANG AWARENESS WEEK
Date: November 4-10, 2023
Location: Worldwide
Champion: Orangutan Foundation
Orangutan Awareness Week falls during the second full week of November and focuses attention on orangutans and the rainforest where they live. The highlight of this week is Wear Orange for Orangutan Day, where people are encouraged to wear orange in support of orangutan conservation and the threat to their natural habitat. The Tapanuli orangutan of Indonesia is the most endangered, with fewer than 800 alive today.
WORLD LEOPARD DAY
Date: May 3, 2023
Location: Worldwide
Champion: Multiple Organizations
Leopards (panthers) continue to be vulnerable, though the most endangered is the Amur leopard of eastern China and Russia. As of 2022, fewer than 100 Amurs remain wild. Leopards face multiple threats to their survival, including poaching, loss of habitat and food scarcity, and being cut off from others of their species due to roads and infrastructure.
Native to 62 nations in Eurasia and Africa, leopards are apex predators requiring a large area to roam. Sixty-four percent of Africa's and 84 percent of Eurasia's leopard population have disappeared. Leopards divide into 27 family subspecies within the panther family, which includes five distinct species.
Are leopards found in the Western Hemisphere?
No. The jaguar, which once roamed from the southwestern United States through most of South America, is the closest American big cat to leopards. Jaguars are about 30 percent larger and stockier, can roar, and also have spotted coats. However, a jaguar's rosettes (spots) will have dots inside the outer circles. Leopards do not. Jaguars love to swim and tend to eat or challenge anything that crosses their path—they can even bite through a tortoise shell. Leopards don't seek out a fight and are a little pickier when eating. They will swim if they must, but only if they must. Both leopards and jaguars that appear to be all black are referred to as black panthers. Each is threatened or endangered.
Pumas and cougars (including mountain lions and the Florida panther) are cousins to the leopard and native to the Americas. Pumas and cougars are usually tan and cannot roar. Rather, they hiss, shriek, snarl, and growl like house cats.
Western Europe has three native big cats, two lynx species, and a wildcat. Only the continents of Antarctica and Australia do not have native large cats.
INTERNATIONAL OWL AWARENESS DAY
Date: August 4, 2023
Location: Worldwide
Featured Champions: US Department of the Interior, American Eagle Foundation
I'm wrapping up this issue with owls, which hold a special place in my creative career. The first watercolor I painted was of a barn owl taking off from a branch at age 13—that painting won first place at the Oregon State Fair. The first written work I published was a 1993 letter to the editor of the Everett Herald on the plight of the Northwest Spotted Owl in Washington State and how the bird, its habitat, and the timber industry could coexist. Owls appear to be my creative talisman.
There are 236 known species of owls, falling into two families, the Tytonidae and Strigidae. Thirteen owls are currently on the critical or endangered species list, including the Pernambuco Pygmy Owl and Siau Scops Owl, both with fewer than 50 remaining.
A large owl can consume over 2,000 rodents, fish, and small animals annually, making them essential for pest control. Smaller owls keep the insect population under control, and these birds of prey live on six of seven continents.
The largest species is the Blakiston's Fish Owl, with a wingspan of 6.5 feet (1.98 meters) and weighing over eight pounds (3.6 kilograms).
The smallest owl is the Long-whiskered Owlets, with a wingspan of 4.1 - 4.6 inches (10 - 11.5 centimeters) and weighing less than 2 ounces (0.06 kilograms).
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I hope this special edition of LEEP Happenings introduced you to some new animals and causes. The next issue will cover events in March and be out after the 21st. Thank you for subscribing, and please share with your friends and colleagues!