Oct 6, 2008 10:57 pm US/Central
In The Know: When Is Endangered Good?
(WCCO)
It seems lately an old maxim is holding true: "If it weren't for bad news, there wouldn't be any news at all." Don Shelby says, the news just got worse.
The journal
Science is about to report the findings of the most comprehensive and complete assessment of the world's wild mammal species. And, it is not a pretty picture.
Through satellite analysis and tracking surveys, scientists have counted all 5,487 large land and sea mammals identified in the last 500 years. It took 1700 experts in 130 countries to do that work, the most thorough tally since 1996. And it finds that a quarter of all the worlds wild mammals face extinction from habitat destruction and hunting them for food.
Marine mammals are at the brink because of ship-strikes, accidental netting and pollution. We are facing, according to the president of the organization responsible for the research, an "empty forest syndrome."
There is good news.
Researchers say that 5 percent of the animals once at the brink are slowly being brought back. The United States gets high marks. Out on the prairies, the black-footed ferret was essentially extinct and is now only endangered.
When endangered is an improvement, you know things aren't right.
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