“Happy Feet” Penguins Decline by 90 Percent

| Mar 04, 2010 | 0 comments

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1267704031 “Happy Feet” Penguins Decline by 90 Percent Do you remember the lovable Rockhopper Penguin colony from the animated movie happy Feet? Well, it turns out that the Rockhopper Penguin species is in grave danger of extinction and their population has decreased by 90 percent since the 1950’s.

Once in the millions, the current Rockhopper Penguin numbers range between 32,000 to 65,000 pairs on Gough Island, and 40,000 to 50,000 pairs on Tristan da Cunha Island.

Apparently, the declines equate to losing about 100 birds a day for the last 50 years.

Although the exact reason for their extraordinary decline has not been pinpointed, initial studies indicate that climate change, shifts in marine ecosystems and overfishing may be the chief culprits.

My question is this. why must we sensationalize the plight of a particular animal, and in doing so, neglect the the loss of another? we all know that the Polar Bear is the Poster Child of the Environmental Movement, and no disrespect to the Polar Bear, but when we forget about or refuse to report about other species, we do a disservice to all the bio diversity on our planet.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t necessarily care for one species more than another, because I try not to impart “worth” to any animal species. one of the principles of the Endangered Species Act is to protect wildlife through protection of their habitat. It’s the protection of the habitat that I’m interested in.

Listing a species like the Rockhopper Penguin, would mean doing things like protecting the marine ecosystems, stopping the overfishing of their hunting grounds and imposing tighter regulations on excess CO2. the reasons certain animals never get the protection they deserve is that people vested in the industries that cause their demise, are powerful and have deep pockets.

That’s too bad, because though I have never seen a Rockhopper Penguin in the wild, unless we protect habitat from polluters and corporations that would strip our world of it’s resources, the Rockhopper will just be one in a long list of animals that we have lost forever, to our greed and ignorance.

Photos courtesy of jpmatth, Ben Tubby and Man with noname via Flickr Creative Commons

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