GOOD NEWS SUNDAY | October 11, 2026

WILDLIFE COMEBACKS Wildlife populations have fallen 73 percent on average since 1970. That is the headline figure in the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet Report 2026, published October 7. The number is an average of change in monitored population sizes. It is not a count of animals lost. The index, produced by the Zoological Society of London, covers 35,803 population trends across 5,790 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2022. Inside that average, the report finds recoveries. About half of the monitored populations are stable or increasing. WWF puts the split at 7 percent stable and 43 percent increasing. The declines are larger than the gains, so the average still falls. WWF Chief Scientist Rebecca Shaw said species that were in freefall a generation ago are “fighting their way back.” The report names tigers, green sea turtles, southern African elephants, and Atlantic and Pacific bluefin tuna among the recoveries. Wild tiger numbers rose more than 70 percent between 2010 and 2025. WWF credits commitments from tiger range countries, including India, Bhutan, Nepal, Laos and China. In 2025, the green sea turtle became the first marine turtle moved from endangered to least concern. The listing is the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. The change reflected 50 years of research, protection of nesting females and eggs, fishing-gear measures and community involvement. By 2010, Atlantic bluefin tuna had fallen 80 percent and were listed as endangered. They are now returning in numbers not seen in generations. Tom Horton is a research fellow at the University of Exeter. He said fishers in British waters who had never seen a bluefin now meet them regularly. The mountain gorilla was on the fast track to extinction in the 1980s. More than 1,100 now live in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Professor Brendon Godley of the University of Exeter said populations can rebound when “science, policy, enforcement and public support align.” He cautioned against complacency. The report says conservation alone cannot reverse the declines. It names the food, energy and finance systems as the main drivers of nature loss. *Sources:* WWF *(Living Planet Report press release: 73 percent figure, index scope, 7 and 43 percent split, Shaw quote, conservation-alone and systems drivers);* Al Jazeera *(Qatar, state-funded/editorially independent: tiger, green sea turtle and bluefin figures, Horton, Godley, mountain gorilla count)* JORDAN HOPE’S SHOES Jordan Hope took off his own shoes and gave them to a stranger. Hope is 18 and a recent high school graduate in Maricopa, Arizona. He saw an older man outside a drugstore in shoes that were barely staying on his feet. The man used a walker. Hope stopped, took off his size 13 Nike slides and handed them over. He did not stop there. He bought the man candy. He called him a rideshare and followed it to his home. He stayed a while to talk. That is when he learned the man’s wife had died two weeks earlier. The man is 80. Yareli Madrid filmed the first moments from the parking lot and posted the video on Facebook. Hope did not know he had been filmed. He found out the next day, after the post drew hundreds of comments. Someone who recognized him as a former student helped trace it back to him. Hope credits his parents, his youth pastor and his faith. Of the man, he said, “I just think he needed a friend.” The man did not want to take part in the story. He told a reporter that he struggles to ask for help. He was grateful to have made a new friend during a hard time. Hope checks in with him by phone every day. The two plan to stay in touch and may attend church together. A crowdfunding page for the man had raised more than $2,000 within a couple of days, as of October 8. Hope said the money will go toward groceries and other expenses. “You never know what someone is going through,” Hope said. *Sources:* ABC15 Arizona *(Phoenix: size 13 slides, walker, the man’s age, candy, rideshare, the man’s response, Hope quote);* KPHO via Gray News *(Madrid video, daily calls, crowdfunding total, Hope quote)* HAWK-EAGLES OF MAHAGNAO Eight rescued and rehabilitated wild animals were released at Mahagnao Volcano Natural Park in Burauen, Leyte, in the Philippines. Two were endangered bird species. An endangered South Philippine Hawk-Eagle led the release. The animals included a Philippine Hanging Parrot and a South Philippine Hawk-Eagle. The release took place on July 31. Separately, the Philippine Eagle Foundation reported a nest of the same hawk-eagle species in the same park. The foundation says it is the first documented active South Philippine Hawk-Eagle nest on Leyte Island and the first recorded in Eastern Visayas. The species is endangered. Logging and agricultural expansion have cost it habitat. Hunting, trapping and poaching for the pet trade add to the pressure. Foundation biologist Tristan Senarillos and his team documented the pair’s complete nesting cycle. They first documented the pair in November 2025. By January, the female was incubating a single egg. The egg hatched on March 2, after 41 days. On May 17, the young hawk-eagle made its first flight. The team monitored the nest for 76 days. The foundation says this is the first time researchers have documented the species’ full nesting cycle. It says the data could “guide stronger protection of breeding pairs and their forests.” The park’s Protected Area Management Board approved four resolutions to protect the nest site and the hawk-eagle family. The Burauen local government is preparing an ordinance that would name the South Philippine Hawk-Eagle a flagship species for conservation. The foundation is preparing scientific papers on its findings. *Sources:* Daily Tribune *(Philippines: July 31 release report, eight animals, two endangered bird species, hawk-eagle and Philippine Hanging Parrot among them);* Daily Tribune *(Aug. 27 nest report: Senarillos, nesting timeline, first-on-Leyte claim, protections)* THE SOFTBALL SISTERS Less than an hour earlier, Samantha Rensvold had found out that she had just played against her sister. It happened on a Friday in early August 2025, at the 12th Annual Veterans Memorial Softball Classic in Belgrade, Montana. Rensvold, then 18, played for the Army team. Kyann Dean, then 17, played for the Air Force. Both were born and adopted in Great Falls. Both knew they had a sister somewhere. Rensvold’s parents had always told her. She knew the sister was in Montana and little more. Hayley Hernandez played on Army with Rensvold and on the Huntley Project team with Dean. She saw the resemblance. In the dugout during the opening game, she asked Rensvold, “Are you adopted?” Rensvold told her mom. Her mom spoke with Dean’s mother. The details matched. After Air Force beat Army, Dean’s mother told her. Dean said she thought she was in trouble, because her mom’s tone was urgent. Rensvold misplayed a ball in right field because she was listening in on that conversation, she admitted. The tournament organizer, Jim Matter Jr., announced the news to the crowd during opening ceremonies. The sisters then found more in common. Each wore No. 1 at the tournament. Both play volleyball as outside hitters. They share the same laugh. They also share a younger brother, Case, whom Rensvold had already met. Rensvold now pitches and plays infield at Spokane Colleges. Dean and her family recently visited the campus to tour it. Rensvold had planned to go home to Montana the day before. She stayed to meet them. She said softball was “the perfect setting to meet her.” *Sources:* The Belgrade News *(Montana, Aug. 3, 2025: tournament, teams, Hernandez, parents, ages, brother, similarities);* The Spokesman-Review *(Washington, May 13, 2026: Spokane Colleges, campus visit, Rensvold quote)* PENNY AND GERTIE A kangaroo grooms a bison calf almost every day. At Six Flags Great Adventure’s Wild Safari in Jackson, New Jersey, the two have become friends. Penny is a hand-raised kangaroo just over a year old. Gertie is an American bison calf, two months old as of August. They spend time near the safari’s veterinary clinic. Most days, staff arrive to find Penny tending to her much larger companion. Dr. William Rives, director of safari at Six Flags Great Adventure, said it is unusual for two such different species to form this kind of connection. The animal care team did not expect it. Penny was preparing to join the safari’s kangaroo population. Six Flags said the pair were making the most of their time together until then. *Sources:* Six Flags Great Adventure *(the park’s own blog post: ages, daily routine, vet clinic, Penny’s move);* News 12 New Jersey *(Aug. 13, 2026: friendship, Rives)* “Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1789 Get full access to The Rest of the World Report at www.restoftheworldreport.com/subscribe