Experts available for media interviews on National Endangered Species Day

National Endangered Species Day will be celebrated today, May 18, in recognition of efforts to protect endangered, threatened, and at-risk species across the U.S. The Endangered Species Act, co-administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, marks a national commitment to the protection and recovery of endangered plants and animals.

Timothy Van Deelen, UW–Madison associate professor of forest and wildlife ecology, can talk about gray wolves in the Great Lakes region, where populations have recovered to the point that they were removed from federal endangered species lists in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and upper Michigan earlier this year.

Contact: trvandeelen@wisc.edu, (608) 265-3280 (prefers e-mail contact)

Adrian Treves, UW–Madison associate professor of environmental studies, also studies gray wolves in Wisconsin, as well as several other endangered carnivores around the globe, including Andean bears in Ecuador, tigers in Asia, and lions, African golden cats, and leopards in Africa.

Contact: atreves@wisc.edu, (608) 238-6873 or (608) 770-6873.