Koalas are faltering after losing 80% of their traditional habitat. In the United States, California condors also fell victim to habitat loss, which was further complicated by lead poisoning. Further north, Western pond turtles lost habitat while competing with an invasive species. And in Africa’s Gorongosa National Park, a civil war nearly wiped out all the wildlife such as elephants, hippos, and rhinos.
These are just a few examples of how species, big and small, can become endangered. While it may sound dire, conservationists are hard at work solving these problems and you can be part of the solution too. Here are some of the more common strategies we can use to save the species we love, which you’ll see referenced in our Donation Search’s Top Actions Taken.
Managing Habitat
Habitat loss and fragmentation are the primary reasons why species become endangered. Preserving and restoring habitat are two tactics that can help this situation.
Preserving Habitat
One main strategy is preserving existing natural areas needed by species to ensure their predicament doesn’t get worse. Often, this involves designating the area as a sanctuary like Hawaii’s Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary, which was established in January 2025. While it’s too soon for researchers to detail its benefits, similar projects have protected marine life such as green sea turtles. We can bolster this strategy by backing legislation and movements to protect habitat in our own countries and local jurisdictions and being thoughtful users of the protected spaces when we get the privilege of entering them.
Restoring Habitat
Alternatively, land managers may undergo the more time-consuming process of rehabilitating land that was damaged by human activities like logging, mining, or agriculture. This may include planting trees to help species like the koala by rebuilding their forest homes. We can help these movements by volunteering in local conservation efforts, including by picking up trash or helping to restore native plants.
Rescue and Rehab
Human-wildlife conflict is another top cause of species endangerment, and animals are regularly wounded in the process. Conservation groups may step in to help animals such as elephants that have been speared or poisoned. Depending on the severity of the injury, they may provide medical services to animals in the field or take them into protective care while they heal.
Sadly, adult animals are often killed during conflicts. If they are parenting an infant, the orphan will suffer the same fate unless someone steps in to help. That’s why some organizations rescue orphans and raise them until they can be released back into the wild. For example, because young elephants are milk-dependent and cannot survive on their own, several conservation groups care for the babies until they are ready to reclaim their wild life. This process can take decades but produces many heart-warming videos along the way. Who doesn’t love to see a juvenile elephant racing for his or her milk bottle?
We can all learn to be better partners with wildlife by taking steps to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts in our own neighborhoods and learning to live with wildlife in our communities. We can also support people and organizations working to reduce and mitigate conflict through volunteering or donating.
Anti-Poaching
Poaching also claims the lives of many animals, be it for bushmeat or for body parts such as an elephant’s tusk, a rhino’s horn, or a tiger’s bones. To counter this issue, conservation groups establish ranger patrols like the one which watches over pertinent geographic areas for giraffes. These groups can also remove snares before they can harm any animals, and apprehend or discourage poachers. In extreme cases, they may even guard the animals, such as the last two northern white rhinos. Some groups may even deploy high tech solutions such as PoacherCam that uses algorithms to find big cat poachers. Everyone can help in these efforts by not engaging in trade this is illegal or encourages poaching.
Local Education
Conservation strategies such as managing habitat can only work when everyone involved agrees to abide by the new boundaries; when the local human community doesn’t support the project, it will fail. That’s why some conservation groups work to educate those who live among or near the species to promote coexistence. Ideally, these organizations initiate their work by brainstorming resolutions with the local community to ensure that they resolve both what is putting the endangered species in peril as well as what the local human community needs to survive. For example, indigenous people were logging forests in Belize, which fragmented habitat of the endangered howler monkeys. After many discussions, community members addressed the monkey’s biggest threat – habitat loss – by donating individually owned land and replaced their lost income through ecotourism.
Reduce Conflict
Local education can also be used to reduce human-wildlife conflict using a twofold approach: helping the community appreciate the local species while diffusing the situation when conflict occurs. One prime example occurs when conservation groups shepherd elephants off community property. They may also suggest solutions such as painting eyes on cow’s posteriors to discourage lion attacks or by tracking lions and scaring them away from human habitations.
Translocation
In extreme situations where a wildlife population is wiped out, conservationists can translocate new individuals into the area. For example, following the devastating effects of the civil war in Gorongosa National Park, conservationists established a multi-year plan to bring in animals like elephants. Once their numbers proved sustainable, they reintroduced predators to restore the natural balance.
While this solves a gap in nature, successful programs are cautious to limit disruptions to the social structures animals have in place. For example, young adult male African elephants were translocated to repopulate South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park. Once in their new home, they became aggressive and killed more than 50 rhinos. To resolve the issue, program managers introduced older male elephants, who were able to instruct and regulate the juveniles.
Reproduction Assistance
Sometimes species are so endangered that they cannot reproduce quickly enough to sustain populations in the wild. When the situation becomes this dire, conservation organizations may establish a captive breeding program such as the one created when the California condor population plummeted to just 20 birds in the wild. All the condors were brought into protective care and eventually the next generation was released back into the wild. There are now approximately 350 California condors flying free.
While in human care, conservationists must prevent the animals from acclimating to our presence and losing their ability to fend for themselves in the wild. Creative approaches can help reduce this risk, such as feeding the condor chicks with puppets that mimic their parents to prevent them from imprinting on humans. We can help these efforts by learning more about these programs and supporting organizations working to help species in the wild and in human care.
Headstarting
In a similar vein, to protect species when they are most vulnerable, conservation groups may use a method called “headstarting” where they collect young animals from the wild, raise them in captivity, and release them back into the environment as adults. For example, conservationists collect endangered Western pond turtle hatchlings from their native habitat, raise them at the Oregon and Woodland Park Zoos, and release them back into the wild the following year when they are big enough to fend for themselves against the invasive bullfrogs. As a result of these efforts, turtle numbers are rising.
Advocacy
Sometimes a species’ best chances lie with people who advocate for them in the courts, legislative bodies, with commercial interests, or the general public. For example, elephants are endangered in no small part because humans poach them for their ivory. Advocacy groups have lobbied governments to establish bans on imports. Become an advocate yourself by learning more about the species you love and spreading the word on what everyone can do to make a difference for them!