Endangered species in Canada

Extinction -- the eradication of a species -- has been a biological reality ever since life on Earth began some 3.5 billion years ago. Indeed, some scientists have concluded that 95 percent of all the species that have ever existed on Earth are now extinct. If extinction is the result of a natural process, why should Canadians be concerned about the disappearance of various species of wildlife today?

In the modern world, species extinction is alarming not because it happens, but because it is happening much faster due to human activities. The exploding world human populuation, to meet its own needs, destroys and harms wildlife habitats -- those essential places where animals, plants, insects, and other life forms find food, shelter from predators, breeding sites, and other requirements for survival. The result is population declines for some species and extinction for others.

Why should Canadians care?

The highest rates of species extinction are occurring in countries with much higher population densities than Canada and in the tropical rain forests, which are being cleared very rapidly. However, Canadians whould not be complacent.

In Canada, since the arrival of the first European settlers, at least nine animal species and at least one caribou population have become extinct, and an additional 13 species or populations are no longer found in this country. In 1996, 137 species, subspecies, or populations of wild plants and animals were listed as threatened or endangered, and 131 were considered vulnerable.

One reason that we care about species extinction is that we have a moral responsibility for the Earth's biological heritage. Another is that wild plants and animals are important sources of the basic ingredients of pharmaceuticals and traditional medicines even in the 1990s. And the gene pool of the world's wild species still supplies the raw material for improving livestock and crops.

As well, many Canadians, especially aboriginal peoples, rely on renewable resources such as wildlife for food, clothing, and shelter. Others depend on income generated from wildlife-related activities such as hunting, fishing, trapping, lumbering, and bird-watching. In 1991, recreational fishing and wildlife-related activities, and the provision of accommodation, food, and equipment associated with them, contributed $11 billion to Canada's Gross Domestic Product.

Most importantly, the world's plants, animals, and microorganisms play an essential role in the processes that maintain the Earth's atmosphere, climate, landscapes, and water in a state that allows human civilization to prosper. Most basic of all are the plants that capture carbon and solar energy, and the decomposers that release the nutrients and energy in dead plant litter for reuse. Loss of species impaires the Earth's ability to provide these services on which people and economic prosperity depend.

Habitat destruction and our modern lifestyle

In the early twentieth century, Canada's beavers were endangered because of market demand for beaver hats. Conservation programs were unknown at that time, but unfortunately for Castor canadensis, men's fashions changed before the beavers were completely trapped out. And in the 1930s, governments closed the trapping season and reintroduced beaver in areas that had been stripped by trappers. Then beaver populations recovered, as their habitat had not been damaged.

Today, Canada's wild animals and plants face new perils more subtle than the gun or the trap and more difficult to control -- namely, habitat destruction and environmental contamination. Without habitat there is no wildlife.

Across Canada, some types of habitats are vanishing -- fast. Wetlands have been filled in, forests have been fragmented, grasslands have been ploughted under and fenced off, and fast-flowing rivers have been slowed. The losses are clustered largely in southern Canada because the greatest diversity of wild species and habitats is found there, and pressure for development is also the highest.

The loss and degradation of wetlands is particularly serious. Millions of hectares of marshes, swamps, and other wetlands -- extremely important for waterfowl, fish, and many other species -- have already been destroyed. Approximately 30 percent of the species designated by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada as at risk of extinction depend on wetlands.

Canada's modern lifestyle, with its heavy dependence on industrial, household, and agricultural chemicals, also poses a serious risk to endangered species. In 1995, the use of the insecticide carbofuran was restricted after it was proven that it had detrimental effects on the endangered Burrowing Owl.

Modern society puts species in jeopardy in even more ways. Acid rain, for example, can kill pond and other aquatic life, and has a negative effect on soils and forest growth. Some wildlife biologists already believe that acid rain and ultraviolet radiation are at least partial culprits in the population declines of some species of waterfowl and amphibians.

Who decides which species are at risk?

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), is responsible for producing a list of wildlife at risk in Canada. Established in 1978,COSEWIC comprises members from federal, provincial, and territorial government wildlife agencies, three national conservation organizations, and chairs of scientific subcommittees. Committee members are wildlife experts who assess scientific status reports on species suspected of being at risk and may then assign species to one of five categories:

EXTINCT species no longer exist.

EXTIRPATED species no longer exist in the wild in Canada, but they occur elsewhere.

ENDANGERED species are facing imminent extinction or extirpation.

THREATENED species are likely to become endangered in Canada if limiting factors are not reversed.

VULNERABLE species are of special concern because of characteristics that make them particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events.

Under a program called RENEW, or Recovery of Nationally Endangered Wildlife, recovery plans for terrestrial vertebrate species that are extirpated, endangered, or threatened are developed and implemented under the supervision of a team of experts. The efforts of all who wish to help -- governments, nongovernmental organizations, corporations, and private individuals -- are effectively coordinated.

Are there any laws?

At the moment, four Canadian provinces -- New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba -- have specific legislation to protect species at risk of extinction. The federal government is developing endangered species legislation to protect the species that it is responsible for, such as migratory birds, species on federal lands or waters, fish, and marine mammals. As well, the federal, provincial, and territorial governments have agreed in principle to the "National Accord for the Protection of species at Risk," which commits governments to ensure that their endangered species legislation and programs complement those of other jurisdictions throughout Canada.

Canada was one of the first industrialized nations to sign the international Convention on Biological Diversity at the Earth Summit in Brazil in 1992. By doing so, Canada affirmed its commitment to the conservation of biodiversity and endangered species.

There is also the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that regulates trade in over 50,000 species and subspecies of plants and animals from all over the globe. Illegal trade in wild animals and their products has practically exterminated some species -- for example, rhinos, tigers, and some parrots -- and is threatening others. In order to eliminate this illegal trade, international cooperation is essential. By belonging to CITES, Canada can help to prevent Canadians from commercially abusing wildlife in other countries and secure the help of other countries intercepting unauthorized shipments of Canadian wildlife. For example, Canada has put the commercially valuable endangered Peregrine Falcon and Whooping Crane on the CITES control list, so that other countries will not import them without Canadian authorization. The Canadian Wildlife Service, part of Environment Canada, is responsible for implementing CITES in Canada.

A new federal law proclaimed in 1996, the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA), protects Canadian and foreign species from illegal trade. It also protects Canadian ecosystems against the introduction of designated harmful species.

What is being done?

COSEWIC identifies Canadian species at risk and RENEW coordinates recovery programs for terrestrial animals in the extirpated, endangered, and threatened categories. Between 1988 and 1997, under RENEW's umbrella, over 100 federal, provincial, and territorial government agencies and nongovernmental organizations contributed nearly $20 million to recovery programs for 35 terrestrial vertebrates. The accomplishments of some of these recovery teams are discussed below.

Whooping Crane

In 1941 there were only 21 wild Whooping Cranes left in all the world. Nonetheless, the Whooping Crane is maintaining its precarious hold on existence -- with a lot of help from its friends.

Most of the Whooping Crane's breeding habitat has been destroyed. The birds used to nest along a band stretching from central Illinois northwest through Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan into east-central Alberta. Today, their breeding range is four small areas in Wood Buffalo National Park that total 400 square kilometres -- not very much land when you consider that each breeding pair requires a territory of about 5 square kilometres.

In the fall, after a long migration during which they have run a gauntlet of power lines, urban centres, and hunters who shoot by mistake, whoopers arrive at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas where, again, their wintering-over territory is greatly diminished and threatened by pollution and oil spills.

In the early 1940s, the National Audubon Society decided to attempt to save the Whooping Crane from extinction. Since then, federal, provincial, state, and private agencies have publicized the plight of the whooper and tried to protect it during migration and at its winter and summer grounds. Wildlife experts bred it in captivity.

The U.S. and Canadian Whooping Crane recovery teams joined to form a single team in 1996. In winter 1997-98 there were about 355 wild and captive birds, including 171 birds in the original wild flock that breeds in Wood Buffalo National Park. Efforts are also underway to establish a second population that doesn't breed and winter in the same locations as the main population.

Peregrine Falcon (anatum subspecies)

Hinterland Who's Who Pamphlet - Peregrine Falcon Peregrine Falcon subspecies anatum (endangered). Photo by Richard Fyfe.

The Peregrine Falcon is a magnificent bird of prey that is highly susceptible to chemical substances, particularly pesticides. In the years after World War II Peregrine Falcon numbers declined rapidly, almost to the point of extinction in parts of Canada and the United States. Now, thanks to efforts at conservation, in particular the reduced use of persistent pesticides, the Peregrine Falcon is making a fairly good comeback in certain parts of North America.

The subspecies at greatest risk, the anatum Peregrine Falcon, has been bred in captivity. Over 1600 have been raised by the Canadian Wildlife Service at a facility in Wainwright, Alberta. Birds from this breeding facility were released into the wild by provincial and territorial governments, federal agencies, and public interest organizations. Thanks to the success of the program, captive breeding is no longer necessary and the facility was recently closed. There are now more than 320 pairs of this endangered subspecies breeding in the wild in Canada. The other two subspecies of Peregrine Falcon that breed in North American -- Peale's and Tundra -- are classified as vulnerable.

Swift fox

Hinterland Who's Who Pamphlet - Swift fox

Swift fox. ( extirpated. ) Photo by Lu Carbyn.

The swift fox is a small, agile mammal, about the size of a housecat, that in the nineteenth century was common on Canada's southern prairies. In 1978, the swift fox was designated an extirpated species. Its habitat had been lost to farmland, and it had been the unintended victim of trapping and poisoning campaigns aimed at other animals such as coyotes, wolves, and ground squirrels.

The Canadian Wildlife Service has helped to bring the swift fox back. Foxes obtained from the United States were released directly into the wild or bred in captivity to produce offspring that were then released.Some of the foxes are equipped with radio collars so that they can be monitored. Releases have occurred in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1997, there were an estimated 300 swift foxes in the wild in Canada. If everything goes well, the graceful little animal will be re-established on at least part of its former territory.

Piping Plover

Hinterland Who's Who Pamphlet - Piping Plover

Piping Plover (endangered). Photo by Winifred (Cairns) Wake.

The Piping Plover is a small shorebird, found only in North America, that nests on beaches. Its main range is along the Atlantic coast from the north shore of the St. Lawrence to Virginia, and from the Great Lakes basin west to central Alberta.

The Piping Plover went into a serious population decline at the turn of the century because of hunting.It recovered significantly following the implementation of the Migratory Birds Convention between Canada and the United States in 1916. Today, the Piping Plover is again in serious decline that appears to be directly linked to human encroachment, mainly disturbance to beaches used for nesting. A recovery plan has been prepared, and in 1996, U.S. and Canadian biologists conducted a complete census on the plover's known breeding and wintering ranges, finding a total breeding population of 2111 birds in Canada. Recovery activities include fencing of nests to protect the plovers from predators, guardianship programs to reduce the negative effects of all-terrain vehicles and beachgoers on breeding success, and controlling access to certain breeding areas.

A success story

Human efforts to protect endangered species can be successful.

Six species have been de-listed, including the White Pelican, which was classified in 1978 in the threatened category by COSEWIC and removed from the list of wildlife at risk in 1987. A colonial nesting bird, the White Pelican has, with a little encouragement from humans, started new colonies and increased in total numbers. In 1988 the status of the wood bison was changed from endangered to threatened, in 1992 the status of the tundrius subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon was moved from threatened to vulnerable, and in 1995 the status of the Ferruginous Hawk improved from threatened to vulnerable.

Helping to protect species at risk

In a 1991 survey, 83 percent of Canadians said that it is very or fairly important to protect endangered or declining wildlife populations. Individual Canadians can do much to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat that are at risk: hikers can take care not to disturb birds' nests or pluck rare plants, hunters and fishers can be sure of their game and avoid wastefulness, gardeners can find alternatives to products that might harm the environment, and farmers can minimize runoff and erosion and preserve landscape features that shelter wildlife. Above all, Canadians must ensure that economic development does not occur at the expense of the long-term survival of wild plant and animal species. Healthy natural systems, rich in wildlife, will help to ensure the social and economic well-being of future generations.

Reading list

• Aziz, L. 1997. Wildlife at risk. Canadian Geographic 117(3): 42+ poster map (Poster map available from the Canadian Wildlife Service.)
• Baillie, J. and B. Groombridge (compilers and editors). 1996. 1996 IUCN Red list of threatened animals. Species Survival Commission. World Conservation Union.
• Baskin, Y. 1997. The work of nature. Island Press. Washington, D.C. and Covelo, California.
• Brown, L. 1994. What you can do for wildlife. Hinterland Who's Who. Canadian Wildlife Service. Ottawa.
• Burnett,J.A., T.C.Dauphiné, S.H.McCrindle, T.Mosquin. 1989. On the brink: endangered species in Canada. Western Prairie Producer Books, Saskatoon.
• Carson,R. 1962. Silent spring. Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, Massachusetts.
• Cook,F.R. and D.Muir. 1984. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC): history and progress. Canadian Field-Naturalist 98(1):63-70.
• Ehrlich,P. and A.Ehrlich. 1981. Extinction: the causes and consequences of the disappearance of species. Ballantine Books. New York. 384pp.
• Gayton,D. 1997 Terms of endangerment. Canadian Geographic 117(3):30-41.
• Meyers,N. 1978. Disappearing legacy: the Earth's vanishing genetic heritage. Nature Canada 7(4):41-54.
• Recovery. A free newsletter of information and views on species at risk. (Available from the Canadian Wildlife Service.)
• RENEW Report No. 7, 1996-97. 1997. Annual report. RENEW Secretariat, Environment Canada, Ottawa.
• Wildlife Habitat Canada 1995. Saving species: building habitat into endangered species conservation in Canada. Ottawa.
• Wilson,E.O., editor. 1992. The diversity of life. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.