Ohio's Endangered Species Act success stories

🌊 Freshwater mussels

Check out our behind-the-scenes look at the Watters Aquatic Conservation Center, a state-of-the-art facility near Powell working to conserve our country's most-endangered organism.

🐞 American burying beetles

This federally endangered insect cleans up ecosystems by eating and living in dead animals.

Conservationists at The Wilds have hand-raised and released beetles for years and made a breakthrough in 2019. The bugs reproduced and overwintered in Ohio, their first wild spotting here since 1974, offering hope they could someday repopulate.

🦅 Bald eagles

This American icon is no longer endangered, thanks to a dramatic success story with Ohio roots.

Ottawa County wildlife officer Laurel Van Camp sounded the alarm in the 1950s that a pesticide was harming the raptors' ability to reproduce, leading to its eventual ban, per The Beacon.

🦇 Bats

These creatures of the night could use a similar boost. All 11 species of Ohio bats are declining, while four are state-endangered and two are federally listed as endangered and threatened, respectively. It's mostly due to a fungus called white-nose syndrome that humans are likely spreading.

Conservationists established an Ohio Bat Conservation Plan in 2018 to help, hopefully putting the species on a path to future success.

Go deeper: A list of endangered species in Ohio