It’s easy enough to find reports of animals facing extinction — more than 37,400 species are currently headed toward this fate, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. But there are some real conservation success stories, too. Whether it’s thousands of bald eagles now soaring the skies or fin whales returning to the ocean, these are cases in which governments and conservationists have worked diligently to protect some of the world’s most vulnerable critters. And while there’s still work to be done, it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate these victories for species both big and small.
Giant Panda
The story of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a major conservation triumph. Once critically threatened by poaching and habitat loss, the bamboo-munching black-and-white bears benefited from a series of laws and treaties starting in the 1980s that banned illegal hunting and the trade in panda skins. In 1992, the Chinese government also established a network of panda reserves, which today number 67. Conservation programs aimed at enriching forests and halting erosion have also benefited pandas by banning logging in the forests where they live. According to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), the most recent panda census, conducted in 2014, found more than 1,860 pandas alive in the wild — a rise of 17% compared to 2004. In 2016, the Red List changed the panda’s status from “Endangered” to “Vulnerable.” While conservation work is still necessary to protect these majestic creatures, their numbers are at last moving in the right direction.
American Alligator
Alligators have existed on Earth for 200 million years, but their population was at a record low when the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) was listed as an endangered species in 1967. The Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as the wildlife agencies of Southern U.S. states, banned hunting of the species, and alligator populations bounced back quickly. In 1987, the Fish and Wildlife Service pronounced the American alligator fully recovered and removed it from the endangered species list — an early conservation success story. American alligators are now found across the Atlantic coast and the Gulf coast, as well as the Florida Everglades.
Bald Eagle
In the middle of the 20th century, things weren’t looking good for America’s national bird. Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) faced habitat loss, illegal hunting, and contamination of their food with the pesticide DDT, which weakened their eggshells, endangering chicks. By 1963, the birds’ numbers had fallen to only about 400 nesting pairs in the lower 48 states. The U.S. government responded with a series of measures that prohibited harming or killing the birds, and in 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT. That same year, bald eagles became one of the original species protected by the Endangered Species Act. By 2007, the U.S. population of bald eagles had grown to 10,000 nesting pairs, and the animals were finally removed from the endangered species list. More recently, their numbers have really soared — during the 2019 breeding season, there were an estimated 316,700 bald eagles flying the skies of the lower 48.
Gray Wolf
By the early 20th century, gray wolves (Canis lupis) had almost disappeared from the lower 48 states. Since wolves have a tendency to kill cattle, ranchers targeted the creatures, bringing them close to extinction. When the wolves were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, their numbers had dwindled to about 1,000, mostly located in northern Minnesota. But in the mid-1990s, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and Idaho — and their numbers began to rebound. Today, the gray wolf population stands at more than 6,000. There’s currently talk of removing them from Endangered Species Act protection, but the move is controversial among conservationists and biologists, who argue there’s still more work needed to protect the species and its habitat.
Fin Whale
Fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), the second-largest species of whales, were historically hunted for their blubber, meat, oil, and bone. As was the case with other large whales, their populations severely declined by the mid-20th century, thanks to overexploitation from commercial whaling. But since the 1970s, the worldwide population of fin whales has roughly doubled, thanks to international whaling bans in the North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere, as well as reductions in North Atlantic catches. Today, the IUCN Red List lists them as “Vulnerable” worldwide (an improvement over their previous “Endangered” status), although they are still listed as endangered in the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act. According to NOAA, their greatest threat in the U.S. now comes from vessel strikes.
Echo Parakeet
The beautiful bright-green echo parakeet (Psittacula eques echo) lives only on the island nation of Mauritius, off the coast of Africa. While the birds once thrived, less than a dozen remained by the 1980s, a result of habitat destruction and a rise in invasive predators. Starting in the 1970s, conservationists launched a serious rescue effort that included treating echo parakeet nests with insecticide to ward off flies that were killing young chicks; improving nest boxes to keep out rats and monkeys; providing supplemental food; and, starting in 1993, a captive breeding and release program. After decades of effort, there are now more than 750 echo parakeets in the wild. The IUCN Red List, which had once listed the birds as Critically Endangered, now considers them “Vulnerable.” Conservation efforts to protect them continue, but their numbers are increasing, and they don’t seem likely to disappear any time soon.