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Jul 6, 2008 9:24 am US/Eastern

Endangered Everglades Hawk Near Extinction

Only About One Thousand Remain

EVERGLADES (CBS4) ― Once the proverbial poster child for endangered animal species, a type of hawk found in the Everglades is on the verge of extinction.

Because of the severe drought South Florida has suffered for the last two years and a water management scheme intended to help another at-risk bird, the biologists say the snail kite population is at its lowest number in decades. They estimate that there may be fewer than a thousand of the birds left.

Wiley Kitchens, a University of Florida research ecologist, says "the situation is dire."

A founding member of the federal endangered species list in 1967, snail kite populations increased for a decade and it seemed to be one of the success stories in the Everglades. Now it is fighting extinction again.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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