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Looking Back Over the First Fifteen Years 39 But the negative side of the ledger is not small. Efforts to protect the last remaining wild California condors and black- footed ferrets have failed; their future hinges entirely upon the success of captive breeding efforts. The Palos Verdes blue but- terfly of California no longer has even that hope. It went extinct earlier this decade despite years of formal protection under the Endangered Species Act. So too did Florida's dusky seaside sparrow, a species first listed for protection in 1967 under the original Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966. The last individual of that species died in captivity on June 16, 1987. Outside our nation's borders, the situation is even more bleak. The African elephant, rhinoceros, giant panda, and chimpanzee, species to which major conservation efforts have been directed, continue to spiral downward. As yet undescribed species disap- pear daily from the relentless pace of deforestation in the tropics. If any lesson is clear after seventeen years of experience under the Endangered Species Act, it is that the threat of extinction is far greater than it was appreciated to be in 1973 and that the resources needed to address the problem are far greater than those that have been made available thus far. Significant sums have been spent to aid the conservation of the condor, ferret, bald eagle, and a few other species. But these represent a tiny fraction of all the species now formally protected under the Endangered Species Act. In early April 1988, just a few weeks before the baby condor's birth, that list surpassed the one thou- sand mark. At least that number have already been identified for possible future listing. Are the resources needed for effective conservation of these species likely to be made available? Fortunately, public support for endangered species conservation, at least as expressed in public opinion polls, is high. Recognizing the strength of that support, elected officials are always at pains to emphasize how much they favor the protection of endangered species. Unfor- tunately, these same officials often make their loudest declara- tions of general support just as they are about to propose pulling the carpet from beneath efforts to protect a particular species. In congressional debates, proponents of amendments to strip the government of authority to reduce the drowning of endangered sea turtles in shrimp nets, to lessen the rigors of the act's restric- tions with respect to federal highway building, to remove a