US to declare 23 species, including ivory-billed woodpecker, extinct

The ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more birds, fish and other species will be declared extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday, US media reported.

Government scientists have exhausted efforts to find these 23 species and warned that climate change, on top of other pressures, could make such disappearances more common, the Associated Press reported.

"Each of these 23 species represents a permanent loss to our nation's natural heritage and to global biodiversity," Bridget Fahey, who oversees species classification for the Fish and Wildlife Service, was quoted as saying in the New York Times.

"And it's a sobering reminder that extinction is a consequence of human-caused environmental change," Fahey said.

The extinctions include 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two species of fish, a bat and a plant, according to the Times.

The Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular working hours.

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