US claims success in efforts to save endangered species

Obama administration puffs its chest out over apparent victories in removing animals from endangered species list at accelerated pace

The world may be hurtling to the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out, but the US is claiming success in its own efforts to prevent species following the path of titanosaurs, dodos and passenger pigeons.

A total of 34 species have been removed from federal Endangered Species Act protections since 1978 due to them recovering, rather than becoming extinct. This pace has accelerated under Barack Obama's presidency - 16 of the 34 recovered species have been delisted during the current administration.