Endangered wildlife could be about to lose critical protections

Endangered animals can’t survive if their homes are destroyed by logging, mining, or drilling.

But the Interior Department is moving to eliminate wildlife protections by changing a key part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The change would make it easier for companies and developers to destroy the habitat animals need to thrive.

Add your name before the May 19 deadline to tell the Interior Department: Don’t weaken the Endangered Species Act.

Endangered animals need protected habitat to thrive

An endangered spotted owl might be able to flee from logging in the old-growth forest it calls home — cutting down a tree is unlikely to kill the bird directly. But with the forest gone, the spotted owls wouldn’t have enough nesting sites or prey anymore. They would begin to disappear.

Right now, the ESA recognizes the simple fact that damage to the environment can also damage wildlife populations. That’s how the ESA was used to protect the spotted owl’s forest home in the Pacific Northwest and rescue the species from near-extinction.

But if this current proposal goes through, the ESA would no longer recognize habitat destruction as “harm” to endangered species. As long as a logger doesn’t directly kill or injure a spotted owl, cutting down the forest could be permitted.

We need to continue protecting the wild places we have left, not exploit and destroy them.

Take action to protect endangered wildlife and the ESA.

The Endangered Species Act works. It has protected over 1,700 species over the last 50 years, with a 99% success rate at preventing extinction.

Without the ESA, we could have lost the spotted owl and the bald eagle, the grizzly bear and the gray wolf, and so many more of the amazing species with which we share our planet.

Redefining the terms of the ESA now risks throwing away decades of conservation progress.

Add your name to defend the ESA today.