Nearly two dozen animal, plant species to be declared extinct

The endangered species list could be shrinking but not for a good reason.

The ivory-billed woodpecker and the yellow-blossom pearly mussel are among the nearly two dozen species that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon officially declare extinct.

“It is very disheartening to see,” said Matthew Metcalf, a visiting instructor at FGCU.

It’s disheartening for people like Metcalf because years of futile efforts to save these animals and plants failed. It’s also a wake-up call for Metcalf, who is the school’s resident snake guy, and Basil, an eastern indigo snake who is also threatened. Basil is also known as King.

“For certain species, like the eastern Indigo snake that’s federally threatened, it is a big concern, right? We may continue to lose these species,” Metcalf said.

He and students like Ella Guedouar point to issues like development, which erases natural habitats.

“The best thing to do right now is to learn a little bit more about the animals that we share the space with, and our neighbors that don’t have you know, legs and arms like us, and to be less afraid of them and less hostile towards them,” Guedouar said.

Even the smallest creatures play a role in Southwest Florida’s environment.

“If even one is taken out of the ecosystem, due to extinction, we will see massive effects of that, because it disrupts the food chain, and everybody can see that things are very connected,” Guedouar said.

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For a list of animals that will soon be declared extinct, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s website.