The cardinal rule of classifying animals as extinct, according to conservation scientist Stuart Pimm, is to remember the lessons of Shakespeare. Romeo, believing that an unconscious Juliet had taken her life, gave up hope and took his own. Juliet, upon waking, realized what had happened and she, too, chose death.
For conservationists, Romeo's premature despair has a clear parallel: Incorrectly declaring a species extinct may actually prompt people to give up on it, leading to its demise. This is what might have happened with the New Zealand storm petrel. The small, fast-flying bird had been considered extinct for 160 years when a group of birdwatchers fortuitously spotted one near the country’s northern island in 2003.
Prior to the rediscovery, the New Zealand government began a massive conservation effort to rid that region of feral cats and rats, which prey on native species like the storm petrel. Preserving the petrel’s habitat inadvertently allowed it to nest and repopulate again. It’s as if the metaphorical Romeo made a last-ditch attempt to revive his love, only to discover that she had been alive the whole time.
