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Moving species emerges as last resort as climate warms

FILE - A Florida Key deer stands on the side of Overseas Highway in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Big Pine Key, Fla., Sept. 13, 2017. State officials and scientists have suggested moving a portion of some species struggling with climate change like the Key deer. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File) FILE - A Karner Blue butterfly sits on a leaf after it was released at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission in Albany, N.Y., July 10, 2015. State officials and scientists have suggested moving a portion of some species struggling with climate change like the Karner blue butterfly. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File) This 2013 image provided by the U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife shows the St. Croix ground lizard in Buck Island, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The once-controversial idea of relocating an imperiled species, like the the St. Croix ground lizard, to another island, country or continent for conservation is gaining increasing acceptance among scientists as a measure of last resort. (Nicole F. Angeli/U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife via AP) In this Dec. 15, 2021, image provided by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Erica Royer attaches a tracker to a Guam kingfisher in Front Royal, Va. As warming temperatures from climate change and invasive species alter habitats around the globe, some scientists and government officials are embracing animal like the kingfisher and plant relocations to prevent vulnerable populations from dwindling or going extinct. If a relocation is successful, the kingfishers would become one of the few species ever upgraded from “extinct in the wild” to “critically endangered.” (Roshan Patel/Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute via AP) This July 13, 2012 IMAGE provided by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute photo shows a Guam Kingfisher in Front Royal, Va. As warming temperatures from climate change and invasive species alter habitats around the globe, some scientists and government officials are embracing animal like the kingfisher and plant relocations to prevent vulnerable populations from dwindling or going extinct. If a relocation is successful, the kingfishers would become one of the few species ever upgraded from “extinct in the wild” to “critically endangered.” (Jim Jenkins/Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute via AP) In this April 2018 photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a wildlife worker holds a Tristram’s storm petrel chick in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii. Scientists are making a dramatic effort to save the birds in Hawaii by moving them to an island they never had inhabited. (Amanda Boyd/USFWS via AP) In this photo provided by the Pacific Rim Conservation, wildlife workers relocate Tristram’s storm petrels on Hawaii’s Tern Island, on March 29, 2022. Scientists are making a dramatic effort to save the birds in Hawaii by moving them to an island they never had inhabited. (L. Young/Pacific Rim Conservation via AP)
Moving species emerges as last resort as climate warms