Endangered Species Day, advocates highlight habitat protection and laws

On Endangered Species Day, conservation groups launched campaigns and petitions to defend habitats and strengthen the Endangered Species Act. Advocates highlighted urgent cases from deep-sea vents to backyards, naming the iron-shelled scaly foot snail threatened by mining and the Mottled Duskywing butterfly being reintroduced at the Stead Family Scientific Reserve alongside oak savanna restoration. Campaigners also urged international action, pushing governments to ratify the High Seas Treaty to create marine protected areas and asking citizens to pledge manatee stewardship. Protecting habitats and legal protections matters because more than 48,600 species face extinction risk globally and habitat loss undermines fisheries, pollination, and climate resilience.