Fish and Wildlife Service announced, because, “Kirtland’s warbler has responded well to active management over the past 50 years.”
Meanwhile, a few things are right. Within the last few weeks, the long-endangered Kirtland’s warbler came off the endangered species list. This didn’t happen because we needed them. It happened because the Endangered Species Act determined that when species need us, we shall go to their aid. It happened, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced, because, “Kirtland’s warbler has responded well to active management over the past 50 years.” Before the Endangered Species Act, the species was down to 200 singing males. The population has increased more than tenfold, not because we needed Kirtland’s warbler, but because we understood that Kirtland’s warbler needed us. We understood our moral responsibility and commitment to keep a tiny bird in the world with us. Many would say that the warbler doesn’t matter to us. But the people who won the argument on behalf of the bird were those who argued and acted on the premise that we mattered to the warbler. Nothing else could have worked.