NEW ZEALAND

PROTECTING PENGUINS FROM GLOBAL WARMING

More than half of the world’s 19 penguin species are in danger of extinction — and eight of them live in New Zealand. Determined to save penguins from global warming and other threats, the Center petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006 to list 12 penguin species under the Endangered Species Act, including New Zealand’s southern rockhopper, Fiordland crested, Snares crested, erect-crested, macaroni, royal, white-flippered, and yellow-eyed penguins.

PROTECTING RARE NEW ZEALAND BIRDS

The Center has been working to secure Endangered Species Act protection for eight imperiled New Zealand birds, some of the rarest and most beautiful in the world. Although ornithologists petitioned for the listing of these birds in 1980, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has delayed protecting them for more than two decades. Thankfully, a 2006 Center lawsuit has now compelled the Service to propose endangered listings for four of the eight birds: the black stilt and the Chatham, Magenta, and Cook’s petrels. Endangered Species Act protections could further restrict buying, selling, and importation of these birds, help ensure that U.S. government activities and funding for projects abroad don’t jeopardize the species or their vanishing habitats, and increase conservation funding and attention. Learn more about our International Birds Initiative.