A new study says there is “shocking new evidence” about the declining state of wildlife in Windsor-Essex.

Last year Jonathan Choquette, a conservation biologist with Wildlife Preservation Canada, along with co-author Eric Jolin set out to re-evaluate the local status of reptiles and amphibians, also known collectively as herpetofauna, or ‘herps’ for short.

“Many people aren’t aware that Essex County supports a very unique group of herpetofauna in Canada. In fact, we are home to the only Canadian populations of three kinds of snakes and salamanders,” says Choquette.

The two authors went about assembling data from observations submitted to provincial databases over the last 20 years and followed similar methods applied to a study in 1983, which was completed by the regional conservation authority biologist of the time.

Choquette says what they found was sobering.

A whopping 62 per cent of the reptile and amphibian species historically found in Windsor and Essex County are now either locally extinct, or have extremely limited ranges.

That works out to 13 species already lost, and another 13 species so rare in the Essex region that they are at increased risk of going extinct locally.

According to Choquette, snakes, lizards and salamanders were hit the hardest.

He claims this is important because extinction of a species from Canada doesn’t necessarily happen all at once; rather, it is a process which takes place one local population at a time. And for some species, like the small-mouthed Salamander, the last Canadian population is here in Windsor-Essex.

Choquette blames the loss of wetlands, prairies and forests. He says with only 6.5 per cent natural area cover in Essex, the loss of these lands is a major problem for these creatures.

“Our study identified areas of the region where the greatest number of species can still be found, including parts of west Windsor,” says Choquette. “We recommend that conservation efforts be focused in those areas to protect and recover the few reptiles and amphibians that remain, and, hopefully, prevent future losses”.

The study was recently published in the scientific journal ‘Canadian Field-Naturalist’
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