It may be us!

The Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction May Be Underway

A "mass extinction" event is characterised as a period during which at least 75% of the Earth's species die out in a period of a few million years or less. In the past 540 million years, five such mass extinction events have occurred, but according to a study by UC Berkeley's Anthony Barnosky and colleagues recently published in the journal Nature, there are signs that we may be entering a sixth such event....
In short, human influences, including our impacts on climate change, are causing extinctions at a rate faster than the average during a mass extinction event. If we continue down our current path, we may face a sixth mass extinction event within the next few centuries. However, we're still relatively early along in the process, so although it will be a difficult task, there is still time to change course and prevent a huge loss in biodiversity. If we fail to do so, it may take millions of years to recover from the human-caused extinction event, and we're quickly running out of time to avoid this fate.

So we are not just casual or separated observers of the extinction taking place.  We may be a prime cause.  And if we are not careful, we may be one of the species labeled "extinct."