In the 225 days that the 114th Congress has been in session, various members of the House and Senate have proposed a whopping 80 bills and amendments that would harm imperiled wildlife or weaken the Endangered Species Act. Yet few are as far-reaching as S. 855 from Senator Rand Paul. If it were to move forward, this single piece of legislation could have devastating impacts on not just one, but more than 900 different species.
One especially misguided premise in this bill is that the federal Endangered Species Act should only apply to interstate species – those found in more than one state. As a result, the bill proposes to leave the management of all species found only in one state up to that state’s governor, who could decide to ban Endangered Species Act protection for those species. No matter how close or far a particular species is to recovery, or whether the state is prepared to recover them on its own, hundreds of species would find themselves without the ESA protection that has so far kept them from extinction.
Take a look at just a small selection of the species that this proposal would impact:
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The very fact that these species are native to such specific areas makes them rare, unique and worth protecting. Contact your Senators today and ask them to oppose this devastating proposal, and any others (and sadly, there are many) that threaten to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Tell them what native wildlife means to you, and how you would be impacted if some of the most imperiled species in your state went extinct.
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