[martey]

My name isn't Marty and suggesting people haven't read the article is explicitly mentioned as something to avoid in this site's guidelines.

I think a good faith reading of the article (and my earlier comment) would suggest that the author and/or editor are (as other comments have suggested) using "endangered" as shorthand for "will go extinct soon if no action is taken".

I personally don't think the difference between "Vulnerable" and "Endangered" is as significant as the difference betweeen "Least Concern" and "Vulnerable". From the IUCN's 2016 assessment (http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/9194/0):

> Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) is assessed as Vulnerable under criterion A2 due to an observed, past (and ongoing) population decline of 36-40% over three generations (30 years, 1985-2015). The factors causing this decline (levels of exploitation and decline in area of occupancy and habitat quality) have not ceased and may not be reversible throughout the species’ range.