Endangered NJ Animals

Question
Hello BPC,

I am in fifth grade. I am working on a project on endangered reptiles in New Jersey.  I am interested in this topic because I want to get these animals off the endangered list.  Could you answer these questions for me?

Is there any place where the people have been able to help endangered reptiles?
Were  you ever involved in saving an endangered species?  What did you do?

Thanks.

Answer
OK, things to remember about endangered animals.  The #1 reason organisms become endangered in HABITAT DESTRUCTION.  NJ is special because not only is it the most populous state in the nation, it is also the most polluted...  Maybe there's a connection there.  As to helping endangered animals, first we must make sure they have a healthy place to live, and then we have to make sure they have everything in that place they need: food, water, shelter, etc.  And that only works if the organism still has enough members in it's population to have a viable gene pool.  Otherwise, we run into what is called bottlenecking (inbreeding).  The FL panther suffers from this problem.  Hope this helps, BPC