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Twenty-one species have been declared extinct and will be taken off the endangered species list, according to an announcement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on Monday.
All but two of the species were listed under the Endangered Species Act prior to 1990, at which point it is possible they were already extinct. According to USFWS Director Martha Williams, federal protections were implemented too late to reverse the species' decline.
Scientists have warned of the mass extinction of plants and animals across the world as a result of human-driven climate change. In the Western United States, the biodiversity crisis has been exacerbated by oil and gas development, which has disrupted wildlife migration routes, left hazardous waste on vulnerable public lands, and driven the climate crisis to new extremes.
"The 21 species extinctions highlight the importance of the ESA and efforts to conserve species before declines become irreversible," the USFWS wrote in its announcement. "The circumstances of each also underscore how human activity can drive species decline and extinction by contributing to habitat loss, overuse, and the introduction of invasive species and diseases."
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The story of the American buffalo is also the story of Native nations who lived with and relied on the buffalo to survive, developing a sacred relationship that evolved over more than 10,000 years but which was almost completely severed in fewer than 100.”
