DENVER \u2013 This Labor Day weekend many Coloradans enjoyed the fresh air and wildlife \u2013 but there\u2019s one sight they didn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
Monday marked the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon, when the last one \u2013 named \u201cMartha\u201d \u2013 died at the Cincinnati Zoo.<\/p>\n
The commemoration was used to urge protection of other species that may face the same fate \u2013 and of the Endangered Species Act, which protects them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 100-year anniversary of Martha\u2019s death is a time to renew our nation\u2019s defining values for conservation,\u201d said Ya-Wei \u201cJake\u201d Li, director of endangered species conservation for Defenders of Wildlife, \u201cand to remind our political leaders that they cannot continue recklessly attacking the ESA.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, but a bill that recently passed in the U.S. House could make it more difficult for the public to hold agencies accountable when they fail to comply with the law, according to the bill\u2019s opponents. Supporters say the legislation was introduced in response to an increasing number of plant and animal species qualifying as \u201cendangered\u201d under the current law.<\/p>\n
The passenger pigeon once was the most abundant bird in North America, with as many as 5 billion, but the population died after decades of hunting and habitat destruction. Li said hundreds of other bird and animal species across the nation also could disappear if the ESA is not protected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are about 1,500 species in the U.S. that are threatened or endangered with extinction,\u201d he said, \u201cand about 95 percent of these species are threatened by habitat loss, many of the same factors that actually caused the passenger pigeon to go extinct.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amphibians, common in Colorado\u2019s rivers and lakes, also are threatened, and Li said some of the reasons are reversible, if people will put in the effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting aside disease, there is extensive habitat loss,\u201d he said, \u201cand that\u2019s something that is entirely within our control to prevent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Defenders of Wildlife, based in Washington, D.C., believes the Endangered Species Act to be \u201can incredible success\u201d in the past 40 years, protecting more than 2,000 species from extinction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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