Skip to content
Health
Link copied to clipboard

Condomania for Earth Day: Endangered species-themed condoms to be given away

How about, "Don't go bare, panthers are rare." Or "Wrap with care, save the polar bear."

Events and announcements for Earth Day are rolling in.

Among them, one that will certainly have people a-twitter: A plan by the Center for Biological Diversity to hand out more than 100,000 endangered species condoms that day.

No, not for endangered species to use. For people to use.

To the Center, this makes perfect sense. Part of the reason species are in decline is because the planet is becoming overpopulated. So if they can jazz up birth control and get people to think about it, all the better.

The packets will come in six versions, with pictures of six endangered species plus slogans.

  1. Don't go bare, panthers are rare.

  2. Safe intercourse saves the dwarf seahorse.

  3. When you're feeling tender, think about the hellbender.

  4. Be a savvy lover, protect the snowy plover.

  5. In the sack? Save the leatherback.

  6. Wrap with care, save the polar bear.

"The more people we crowd onto our planet, the fewer resources there are for already-endangered species like panthers, sea turtles and snowy plovers," said Amy Harwood, who runs the Center's human population campaign. "If we're going to deal with why plants and animals are going extinct at a staggering rate, we have to make human overpopulation part of the conversation."

The Center has done this in the past, getting volunteers to distribute them on college campuses, at bars, backyard parties, and more.

I wonder how many get used, and how many are simply funny party favors.

One thing's for sure: The population keeps increasing. It has doubled since 1968 and just months ago, we surpassed 7 billion people on the planet.

Meanwhile, the Center says, 90 species go extinct every day.