10 endangered species getting new help
NEWPORT, Ky. — An international effort to save 10 species from extinction is being announced Friday at Newport Aquarium.
The international effort called Saving Animals From Extinction — SAFE for short — includes 228 other zoos, aquariums and oceanariums across the USA and in seven other countries.
"Zoos and aquariums have been saving species over the years. Think of bison, red wolf, California condors, black-footed ferrets, desert fishes," said Executive Director Kris Vehrs of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a non-profit accreditation and support organization that is leading the effort. "Yet, the animal kingdom is shrinking. We want to make sure we are holding our feet to the fire."
Species targeted in the effort include the Asian elephant, black rhino, cheetah, gorilla, sea turtle, sharks and rays, western pond turtle, small porpoises called vaquitas and the whooping crane.
Each year, the association will add 10 more species that face serious threats, and members are committed to the program for at least a decade.
Top experts on each animal and its habitat, governments and other organizations focused on conservation of the species will create a survival plan for each animal, Vehrs said.
The association's member zoos and aquariums nationwide and in Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Bermuda, Bahamas, Hong Kong and Singapore will help educate a combined 180 million annual visitors.
The Cincinnati Zoo is home to five of the animals on the first list.
The zoo's executive director, Thane Maynard, believes the coordinated effort will help spread these animals' stories.
"They can be saved if we get involved," Maynard said.
The African penguin's recovery plan is the furthest along, Association of Zoos and Aquariums leaders said.
At Newport Aquarium, Dakota Richmond leaned forward and with two little fingers stroked the soft back feathers of Paula, one of the aquarium's African penguins, as other penguins pattered around at the 6-year-old's feet. He was so excited to see them that he chattered about them in the car all the way from Manchester, Ky., 175 miles south, said his mother, Leigh Richmond.
As soon as 15 years from now, experts believe the only place the sweet, playful African birds may live is in captivity.
Stakeholders met last year in South Africa to determine and prioritize the essential next steps to reverse the penguins' decline, which is caused by several factors but mainly habitat destruction.
Penguins prefer to lay their eggs in deep layers of their own guano but humans have removed much of the bird droppings because it makes a superb fertilizer.
The introduction of invasive plants and humans' collection of penguin eggs also have stymied reproduction, said Steven Sarro, a curator of the Smithsonian's National Zoo and coordinator of the Species Survival Plan for African penguins. The species is down from 1 million breeding pairs to 18,000 and became listed as endangered in 2010..
Participating zoos and aquariums are helping to test artificial nests in various climates.
"Time is of the essence," Sarro said. "Once you lose one species, that affects the entire ecosystem. Pull one strand of a web and it affects many other strands."
The program has $2 million to work with and has created partnerships with sponsors, including Frito-Lay.
"Zoos and aquariums are a trusted resource of information that connect people to nature," Vehrs said. "If we are doing our jobs well, people will make the next step."
10 species in the program
• African penguin: More than 1 million breeding pairs of this warm-water penguin once littered the islands off of South Africa. Now just 18,000 pairs live in the wild.
• Asian elephant: A tad smaller than their African cousin, these elephants can be identified because of their smaller rounder ears. Population growth in Asia has encroached upon their dwindling forest habitat.
• Black rhino: European hunters are responsible for the early decline of black rhino populations. Less than are 5,000 left in the world.
• Cheetah: The cheetah population is believed to have declined by at least 30% in the past 18 years.
• Gorilla: All four subspecies of gorilla are endangered or critically endangered because of hunting, habitat loss, wildlife trade and infectious diseases.
• Sea turtle: Three of the seven existing species of marine turtle are critically endangered.
• Vaquita: Only about 80 of these small porpoises remain in the world. They are so scarce that few photos exist of the animals.
• Sharks and rays: A healthy shark population is seen as vital to the balance of our aquatic ecosystems, yet many are threatened because of unsustainable fishing practices.
• Western pond turtle: Last year, the Center for Biological Diversity determined that this turtle was actually at least two species, meaning each was more endangered than previously thought because of water pollution, disease and overcollection.
• Whooping crane: These birds dropped in numbers to just 15 birds in 1941. Conservation efforts have increased its population, but it remains endangered.