The Postal Service issued fifteen 32-cent Endangered Species commemorative stamps, on October 2, 1996, in San Diego, California, kicking-off National Stamp Collecting Month. The stamps, printed by Ashton-Potter (USA), Ltd., in the offset process, went on sale nationwide the same day.
Designed by James Balog of Boulder, Colorado, the stamps feature fifteen pictures of wildlife found on the Endangered Species list of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The stamps are based on actual photographs taken by James Balog, a preeminent wildlife photographer. Featured on the stamps are the Black-footed ferret, Schaus swallowtail butterfly, Brown pelican, San Francisco garter snake, Ocelot, Gila trout, Hawaiian monk seal, Thick-bille parrot, California condor, Wyoming toad, Woodland caribou, Florida manatee, Piping plover, Florida panther, and American crocodile.
