Top Wildlife Comebacks of the 20th Century

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

With so many animal populations on the decline – thanks to habitat loss, climate change and human intervention, among other causes – sometimes it’s easy to forget all of the progress that conservation efforts have made over the years. For a positive spin, let’s take a look at some of the greatest wildlife comebacks of 20th century, according to a report issued by The Nature Conservancy (NC).

Grizzly Bear

In 1970, the grizzly bear was designated as a threatened species in the continental U.S. Like many other species that once thrived in the country, the grizzly has continued to be threatened by habitat loss and hunting. Thanks to conservation efforts, however, grizzly-bear numbers are improving, and the species may be removed from the threatened list in the near future.

Gray Whale

Back in the 1800s, widespread hunting nearly obliterated the gray-whale population. Since the International Whaling Commission adopted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, however, gray whales have begun to rebound and now number about 22,000, according to the NC.

Bald Eagle

This iconic American species was driven to the brink of extinction in the middle of the 20th century due to habitat loss, pesticide contamination and hunting. However, thanks to the banning of the pesticide DDT in 1972, the bald eagle began to make a comeback, and the NC estimates that there are approximately 10,000 nesting pairs currently living in the U.S.

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Santa Cruz Island Fox

Until a massive captive-breeding initiative was launched by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and conservation groups, fewer than 100 of these four-pound foxes remained. The animals, native to a small island off the coast of California, had fallen victim to feral pigs and golden eagles. Now, the Santa Cruz Island Fox’s population has risen to 1,300.

Southern White Rhino

Decimated by widespread hunting back in the 1800s, the Southern White Rhino was on the verge of extinction by the end of the 19th century. However, as a result of conservation efforts, they have made one of the biggest wildlife comebacks of all time, with over 20,000 individuals now in the wild.

Gray Wolf

A top predator, the gray wolf was considered a threat to livestock decades ago, and was routinely killed. After having been added to the Endangered Species List in 1974, though, they began to bounce back and now total around 4,000.

Mauritius Kestrel

The NC says this small African bird of prey was once considered the rarest bird in the world. At one time, there were only four individuals remaining. Thanks to work by conservationists, who established a captive-breeding program, there is now a self-sustaining population of over 800 of these birds.

 

Dirty Jersey Cleans Out Bear Population

When most people think of New Jersey, wildlife is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, it seems surprising that a state branded with such a “dirty” image could ever be making news for its “overabundance” of wildlife.

But that is exactly what has happened: A massive bear hunt is now under way in the state — an effort that has resulted in 264 black-bear deaths in just the first day of the initiative, according to a report from the New Jersey Herald (NJH).

The number of deaths could reach 700 by the end of the week-long hunt — a figure state officials say is necessary to control the Garden State’s black-bear population, which totals about 3,000, the NJH adds.

Call me a hypocrite, but you’re not going to see me on a hunger strike over this issue. However, there are some points worth raising that seem…well, common sense to me.

To start, I cannot omit the obvious: The bears were here first. Yes, it sounds cliché — they have nowhere else to go. But it’s really disheartening, when you think about it. We have overdeveloped so much of this country’s land that, compared with other parts of the world, wildlife seems pretty scarce — especially large mammals like the black bear. Sure, we have squirrels and rabbits and mice, but not many large species remain.

Speaking of overdevelopment, I rarely — if ever — hear about these “bear hunts” or similar efforts occurring in less-populated areas of the country. For instance, in the mountains of New Hampshire, bears pose no more of a concern to the locals than raccoons would in New Jersey. And yes, bears can be dangerous, if provoked, I suppose…but aren’t coyotes, too?

Call me naïve. But couldn’t at least some of these bears be transported to places like New Hampshire’s White Mountains? I know what you’re thinking: It costs money! We’re in an economic downturn! But these bear hunts aren’t exactly free, either. To me, it seems like the easy way out: Kill the bears, and have it be done with.

No, black bears are not endangered…yet. But if this is the way we deal with what we erroneously refer to as wildlife “overpopulation,” what’s next? The October issue of National Geographic featured an analysis linking human migration into the Americas with the disappearance of large land mammals. However, there’s one difference worth nothing: Back then, it was a matter of survival, not inconvenience.

To be fair, I’m not even a vegetarian. There, I said it. But these bear hunts just seem like meaningless killings, and if we don’t be careful, we could be dooming one of our most beloved animal species.

Save The Polar Bears?

Move over, hockey moms. Oil-bathing Alaskans must now swallow the fact that 120 million acres (187,000 square miles) off the north coast of their state have been designated as “critical habitat” for the polar bear. The new ruling, issued Wednesday by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), comes amid a lawsuit brought by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) concerning the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

In 2008, the DOI classified the polar bear as “threatened” rather than “endangered” — a designation that would have afforded polar bears increased protections under the ESA. Instead, the DOI issued a ruling allowing the continuation of unregulated greenhouse gas emissions in polar bear habitat — in other words, “Drill, baby, drill.”

In response to the ongoing lawsuit brought by the NRDC, Greenpeace and CBD, the DOI is currently reassessing the classification and must decide by Dec. 23 whether or not to designate polar bears as endangered, as well as whether to allow offshore oil drilling in the designated habitat.

The habitat designation is a good start. But the DOI seems to be ignoring the underlying problem here — in effect, treating the symptoms, not the causes. This could be a clever attempt at a “Save the Polar Bears” PR campaign from the government while it does zilch to treat the real disease here: an obsession with oil.

Climate-change legislation has sat dormant in Congress, and the “clean energy” bills that have been proposed have contained increasingly less “clean” and more and more coal and nuclear. Hopes for a renewable electricity standard — which would require the U.S. to procure a certain percentage of its energy from renewable energy resources — have all but diminished.

Unless swift action is taken to combat global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the polar bear could be extinct by 2050, according to estimates from the NRDC. Simply designating territory in Alaska as “critical habitat” for the polar bear will not single-handedly save the species. But it is a satisfying slap in the face to anyone who’s ever chanted “Drill, baby, drill!”

To urge Secretary Salazar to protect the polar bears, click here.