Species Threatened With Extinction

By Awake! writer in Italy

The Red List of Threatened Species, released by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), with headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, is an indicator of the state of the health of the world’s plants and animals. The 2004 Red List contained more than 15,500 species.

One of the main threats to endangered species is human activity. Rather than preserving the delicate balance of nature, indispensable for his own survival, man continues to compromise it through pursuit of activities that turn out to be highly dangerous to other species. Sadly, many species are thus lost and along with them natural resources that may have proved invaluable.

One of the animals on last year’s Red List was the short-beaked common dolphin, pictured here. Its numbers in the Mediterranean have declined by more than 50 percent over the last 30 to 45 years, and it is now considered endangered. According to IUCN, contributory factors have been “a reduction in the availability of dolphin prey in the Mediterranean through a combination of environmental changes, overfishing, and habitat degradation.” It is also thought that high levels of man-made toxic chemicals found in Mediterranean dolphins “may cause immune suppression and reproductive impairment.”

The Creator will not tolerate indefinitely the thoughtless and selfish who degrade and destroy. On the contrary, Bible prophecy indicates that “the appointed time” is approaching when he will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.” Jehovah God will then reestablish conditions in which humans will be competent guardians of “every living creature” and of ‘all vegetation on the surface of the earth.’​—Revelation 11:18; Genesis 1:28-30.

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Short-beaked common dolphins

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© Goran Ehlme/SeaPics.com

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The black-browed albatross is also on the endangered list