The former head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) under President Barack Obama warned lawmakers the planet is in the midst of a “sixth mass extinction” that could see the end of “some of our planet’s most magnificent creatures.”
“Scientists estimate that the total number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish has declined by more than 50% since 1970, and many believe that we are living amidst the planet’s sixth mass extinction,” Dan Ashe told lawmakers Thursday in a hearing about reforming the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Ashe headed FWS from 2011 to 2017 when Obama left office. Ashe is currently president of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. A longtime environmentalist, Ashe warned global warming could wipe out some beloved zoo animals.
“Climate change threatens to accelerate this crisis,” Ashe said. “Without critical intervention today, we are facing the very real possibility of losing some of our planet’s most magnificent creatures such as cheetahs, elephants, gorillas, sea turtles, and sharks.”
In the past, Ashe has voiced his disgust for those who put “economic development, private use, and corporate profit” over conservation.
“We need all the help we can get, because these ideologues are waging a relentless campaign to undermine the legitimacy of public lands, public resources, and wildlife held in trust for the public,” Ashe told environmentalists in June 2016.
“They want the federal government to divest hundreds of millions of acres of public land—not for sportsmen or women—but for economic development, private use, and corporate profit,” he said.
Ashe even suggested western Republicans would eventually come out in support of armed occupation of federal lands.
“The Malheur occupation didn’t occur in a vacuum. It happened because there are people, many of whom occupy positions of power and influence across the West, who share their values and beliefs, even if they recoil at their methods—for now,” Ashe said.
The point of Thursday’s hearing was to discuss ways to reform the ESA to make it more less antagonistic towards property owners and states while still protecting endangered animals.
More than 1,600 species have been listed as “endangered” or “threatened” under the ESA, but only 47 have recovered enough to be delisted. Republicans pointed to this stat as a reason for reform.
Ashe disagreed. He said the ESA is “working” and has “prevented the extinction of 99% of the species it protects since its inception in 1973.”
“However, we know that the challenges facing our planet in the 21st century are as complex as they are urgent,” Ashe said, arguing the ESA is not broken.
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