“ . . . we’ve been very arrogant in thinking that we’re so separate [from chimpanzees]. Chimps turned out to be not only behaviorally so like us, but also biologically like us, sharing 98.6 percent of DNA, similarities in immune system, blood composition, anatomy of the brain. We’re not, after all, separate from the animal kingdom. We’re part of it. --Jane Goodall*
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| NYTimes illustration |
Despite a May '19 United Nations report warning that as many as one
million plant and animal species are at risk of extinction worldwide, the Trump
administration has continued to weaken protections for our clean water and the
air we breathe, all while ignoring the danger to our planet of global warming.
We will all be negatively affected, if not killed, by these uncaring backward
steps that continue unchecked. And of
course, “all” includes non-human animals, who will be specifically harmed by
the Interior Department’s recent rules that will weaken “how the nation’s most
important conservation law, the Endangered Species Act, is applied.”
How will weakening this landmark
environmental law affect animals? According
to a NYTimes editorial last month,
The proposed changes would make it harder to shield fragile species not only from commercial development like logging and oil and gas drilling, but also from the multiple threats posed by climate change. Specifically, the rules would complicate the task of getting species listed as threatened or endangered in the first place, and would reduce the habitat judged necessary for their survival.
 |
| American alligators |
The
Endangered Species Act has been regulators’ most powerful tool for protecting
fish, plants and wildlife ever since it was signed into law in 1973. The peregrine falcon, the humpback whale, the
Tennessee purple coneflower and the Florida manatee all would very likely have
disappeared without it, scientists say, and ESA is also credited with rescuing the
bald eagle, the grizzly bear and the American alligator from the brink of
extinction.
Both the initial news story and the editorial in the Times detailed the many ways in which
animal life will be threatened if these ESA rules take effect. Thankfully, they are being challenged, and opponents
hope that action by the courts -- through which other Trump “initiatives” affecting
our environment and our lives have been halted -- will “slam on the brakes.”
Continental crisis for birds
 |
| Meadowlark |
The US and Canada have lost nearly 3 billion birds (hundreds of
species) over the 50 years since 1970 -- more than a quarter of the total bird
population of the continent. The
worst-hit groups are insect-eating birds (like swallows), grasslands birds (like
meadowlarks) and the longest-distance migrants (like cerulean warblers).
The biggest single contributing
factor in the decline of these birds has been the loss or degradation of quality
habitat.
 |
| Barn Swallow |
“Birds
are a critical part of the natural food chain, and this loss of birds
represents a loss of ecological integrity that, along with climate change,
suggests that nature as we know it is beginning to die,” warns the Washington Post.
It’s
said that better policies for managing
public lands could help restore nature as a whole. But is that likely to happen?
Appreciate, sure; protect, yes!
Sunday, September 22, is
National Elephant Appreciation Day. And since
elephants are not native to the US, that means appreciate elephants from a
distance -- and help protect them from poachers and inhumane treatment all over
the world.
Elephant tusks are still in demand, triggering the
heartless slaughter of this iconic animal. Baby elephants are still being ripped
from their mothers and sold by African countries to zoos all over the world, and
elephants are still being cruelly exploited in myriad other ways.
They need our help!
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