Posted on Oct 25, 2023
Tiny deer and rising seas: How climate change is testing the Endangered Species Act : Short Wave
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https://www.npr.org/2023/10/25/ [login to see] /florida-key-deer-endangered
Some people keep dogs in their backyards. In the Florida Keys, some residents have deer the size of a golden retriever in their yards. As sea levels rise and salt water climbs higher on the islands, it's shrinking habitat for this deer — which already has an estimated population of at most 1,000.
Chris Bergh, the South Florida Program Manager with The Nature Conservancy, says the changes in sea level over the past decades have caused pine rockland forests in the Keys, the main habitat for the Key deer, to recede by hundreds of meters.
This shrinkage is raising major ethical and logistical questions for the federal wildlife managers tasked with keeping endangered species like the Key deer alive.
Some people keep dogs in their backyards. In the Florida Keys, some residents have deer the size of a golden retriever in their yards. As sea levels rise and salt water climbs higher on the islands, it's shrinking habitat for this deer — which already has an estimated population of at most 1,000.
Chris Bergh, the South Florida Program Manager with The Nature Conservancy, says the changes in sea level over the past decades have caused pine rockland forests in the Keys, the main habitat for the Key deer, to recede by hundreds of meters.
This shrinkage is raising major ethical and logistical questions for the federal wildlife managers tasked with keeping endangered species like the Key deer alive.
Tiny deer and rising seas: How climate change is testing the Endangered Species Act : Short Wave
Posted from npr.org
Wildlife
Climate Change
State of Florida
Posted 6 mo ago
Responses: 1
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
...""The options range from giving up and letting a species go extinct to doing absolutely everything you can and putting animals in zoos or collecting plants and putting them in botanical gardens," Colangelo says. "And I mean, I don't want any species to go extinct on my watch. I don't think any of us do. But like, where is society on that?"
Climate change is posing a threat to thousands of species — especially ones like the Key deer that live in only one place.
Some scientists predict that as society focuses more on the impacts of climate change on humans, animals like the deer will become a second thought.
"You aren't going to be worried about deer when you have to worry about people. That's my concern," says Nova Silvy, a now-retired biologist who spent most of his career studying the Key deer from Texas A&M."
...""The options range from giving up and letting a species go extinct to doing absolutely everything you can and putting animals in zoos or collecting plants and putting them in botanical gardens," Colangelo says. "And I mean, I don't want any species to go extinct on my watch. I don't think any of us do. But like, where is society on that?"
Climate change is posing a threat to thousands of species — especially ones like the Key deer that live in only one place.
Some scientists predict that as society focuses more on the impacts of climate change on humans, animals like the deer will become a second thought.
"You aren't going to be worried about deer when you have to worry about people. That's my concern," says Nova Silvy, a now-retired biologist who spent most of his career studying the Key deer from Texas A&M."
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