Your good news of the day

Green sea turtles of Florida and the Pacific coast of Mexico are no longer considered “endangered,” US officials said Tuesday, hailing decades of conservation work for saving the long-imperiled creatures.

Breeding populations on the beaches of Florida and the west coast of Mexico are now described as “threatened” and still merit protection under the Endangered Species Act, but do not face an imminent risk of extinction, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said.

In Florida alone, there are some 2,250 nesting females counted on beaches each year, up from only a handful in 1978 when the breeding populations were first listed as endangered, an FWS spokesman said.

Officials at NOAA estimate that there are currently 571,220 nesting female green sea turtles around the world.

The largest population, including more than 167,000 females, lives in the North Atlantic.