Endangered Species
—Bekoff, Meaney, Enc Animal Rights and Animal Welfare, 1998, 2010

"Endangered Species." Pages 154-156 in Marc Bekoff with Carron A. Meaney, eds., Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998). 2nd edition: "Endangered Species and Ethical Perspectives." Pages 206-207 in Marc Bekoff, ed., (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, ABC Clio, 2010).
Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/48073

Few doubt that humans have obligations concerning endangered species. Whether humans have duties directly to endangered species is a deeper question, part of the larger issue of biodiversity conservation. Many endangered species have no resource value, nor are they particularly important for the usual humanistic reasons: medical, industrial, agricultural resources, scientific study, recreation, ecosystem stability. Many environmental ethicists believe that species are good in their own right, whether or not they are good for anything. The duties-to-persons-only line of argument leaves deeper reasons untouched. What may be required is not just prudence saving resources but principled responsibility to the Earth.