Director's statement on the Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act is a law that preserves two of our great national treasures - wildlife and wild places. And it's our nation's most effective tool in the fight against extinction: 99 percent of the species listed under it, including the southern sea otter and the bald eagle, have survived and are now on the road to recovery.

More than 80 percent of voters support the Endangered Species Act, undoubtedly because it is such an effective law. And yet the law is now facing unprecedented attacks from our elected officials. In July alone, nine anti-wildlife bills were introduced simultaneously in the U.S. House of Representatives. This is on top of more than 100 other bills and amendments proposed so far this Congress to weaken the Endangered Species Act. These attempts to undermine the law would make it harder to protect new species and easier to take protections away from species that need it most.

Right now, three proposed changes that would weaken the act are open for public comment.

It's important to remember that the Endangered Species Act is a law of last resort. When all other attempts to save a species have failed, this measure is in place to ensure our wildlife doesn't disappear forever.

Fighting extinction is always a collaborative effort, and it's an effort at the core of the Oregon Zoo's mission to create a better future for wildlife. Extinction could have been the fate of the California condor, a species that the zoo has been working to save. Not long ago, just 22 of these majestic birds remained in the world. Today, there are more than 450, many of them hatched and reared at the zoo's Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation. Now our kids and grandkids can see them soaring on 10-foot wingspans over national parks in California and Arizona.

The great scientist Aldo Leopold wrote, "Cease being intimidated by the argument that a right action is impossible because it does not yield maximum profits, or that a wrong action is to be condoned because it pays."

Now more than ever, we must stand together in protecting what belongs to all of us. Clean air, clean water, wildlife and wild places benefit everyone. But they can easily be taken away to profit the few.

Please take a moment to voice your opposition to any effort that undermines the Endangered Species Act.

Dr. Don Moore
Director, Oregon Zoo