A Hundred Love Letters I Can’t Write

I know them by name: Blue whale, Tibetan antelope, Resplendent quetzal. I even learned their Latin names: Panthera leo leo, Alligator sinensis, Equus zebra zebra. Some of them count less than 150 individuals in the wild. Others can only be found in that one cave in that one state – the result of pollution and severe habitat encroachment. One is known for its aerobatic virtuosity and electrifying green eyes. (That sounds amazing, doesn’t it?)

Every one of them is unique. And every one of them deserves its own love letter. Not a eulogy, no, not that, not yet, that’s for later, or if we’re lucky, maybe never. But a full-hearted LOVE LETTER.

A hundred love letters to a hundred endangered species. I tried. I really did. But I cannot write those letters.

Because how do you love such beauty and complexity when you know that extinction is around the corner? How do you celebrate the exquisite way life has found to give itself shape and design such intricate webs of reciprocities when those mechanisms are threatened? How do you open your heart to such a massive tragedy and not fall apart? My fingers sit on the keyboard, frozen. My mind goes numb. The pain is unbearable.

There are a hundred love letters in me that will never be written. A hundred expressions of deep, deep gratitude but also, a hundred pleas for forgiveness. A hundred ways of saying “please, don’t go.” A hundred acts of witnessing miracles of all shapes and sizes that might simply vanish while I’m ordering a Chai Latte or folding laundry.

But at the very least, I can say their names. There is power in saying someone’s name. We have seen it with war veterans and 9/11 victims and COVID deaths. We have seen it with Black Lives Matter. And maybe, just maybe, saying the names of a hundred endangered species and letting those sound waves hang in the air, will prevent them from becoming a hundred extinct species.

Adriatic Sturgeon
African Lion
African Savanna Elephant African Wild Dog Alabama Beach Mouse Amazonian Manatee Amsterdam Albatross Amur Leopard
Arabian Oryx
Asiatic Wild Ass

The Gulf of Maine population of Atlantic Salmon Aye-Aye
Black Abalone
Black-Faced Impala

Black-Footed Ferret Blue Whale
Bluefin Tuna Bonobo

Bornean Orangutan
Brown Hyena
California Condor
California Freshwater Shrimp Callippe Silverspot Butterfly Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel Catfish

Chimpanzee
Chinese Alligator
Coral
Crimson Hawaiian Damselfly Cuvier's Gazelle
Devils Hole Pupfish
Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Fiji Crested Iguana
Florida Panther
Galápagos Giant Tortoise Galápagos Penguin
Galápagos Sea Lions
Ganges River Dolphin Geoffroy's Spider Monkey Giant Armadillo
Giant Kangaroo Rat
Gray Bat
Gray Wolf
Green Turtle
Hawaiian Crow
Hawksbill Turtle
Hine's Emerald Dragonfly Hispid Hare
Honduran Emerald Humphead Wrasse
Iowa Pleistocene Snail Jamaican Boa
Jemez Mountains Salamander

Lower Keys Rabbit
Maned Three-Toed Sloth
Marsh Deer
Mexican Prairie Dog
Mississippi Gopher Frog
Mississippi Sandhill Cranes
Monarch Butterfly
Mountain Gorilla
Mountain Tapir
Mountain Zebra
Nashville Crayfish
Neotropical Otter
Northern Aplomado Falcon
Orangutan
Oyster Mussel
Przewalski's Horse
Puerto Rican Broad-Winged Hawk
Red Panda
Red-Tailed Parrot
Resplendent Quetzal
Rio Grande Silvery Minnow
Rusty Patched Bumble Bee
Saimaa Ringed Seal
Saint Croix Ground Lizard
Saola
The Eastern Pacific population of Scalloped Hammerhead Shark Seychelles Scops Owl
Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep
Spanish Imperial Eagle
Spruce-Fir Moss Spider
Sumatran Rhino
Sunda Tiger
Swift Fox
Tibetan Antelope
Tibetan Blue Bear
Tiger
Tooth Cave Ground Beetle
Vancouver Island Marmot
Vaquita
White-Eared Pheasant
White-Winged Duck
Wild Yak
Woundfin
Wyoming Toad

Yangtze Finless Porpoise Yellow-Footed Rock-Wallaby

May they all survive us. Thank you.