For fifty years, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has relentlessly protected some of our most precious, vulnerable animals. The iconic California condor. The formidable grizzly bear. The adorable Preble's meadow jumping mouse. These and thousands more species are currently being kept from extinction thanks to the ESA.
But so much of that protection hinges on one word – "take". The current interpretation, held up in court, is that "take" is either the intentional or unintentional killing or harming of an endangered animal.
A newly
leaked memo shows the Trump administration wants to quietly rewrite that word. Under this new definition, killing or harming an endangered animal would only be illegal if you
meant to do it.
Every other death or injury, even the ones we could easily see coming and prevent, would suddenly become legal -- and the animal death toll would immediately rise.Sign the petition telling Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik to rescind this memo, and telling Congress to step up and protect endangered species if they won't.Here's why this matters so much: the main reason for an endangered animals' death is rarely intentional hunting. They die because a boat doesn't see a whale in its path, or a tree full of roosting bats gets cut down for a housing development, or a construction crew paves over a salamander's last remaining habitat for an office building.
Endangered animal death is nearly always incidental.Up until now, that kind of harm still counted, and companies had to think twice, get permits, and take real steps to avoid it. This memo throws that out. It actually says, in writing, that a development project that wipes out countless animals hasn't done anything illegal, because that wasn't its main objective.
Legal experts are calling this one of the most serious attacks on the Endangered Species Act they've ever seen. And they're right to be alarmed. If harm only counts when it's intentional, then the entire system that's protected our most vulnerable wildlife for decades just stops working. Companies would have no reason left to be careful. It's worth knowing this memo leans on an old, losing legal argument, one the Supreme Court
already rejected back in a 1995 ruling.
This isn't the only attack the Trump administration has made against the ESA. Just months ago, the administration quietly erased the law's broader definition of "harm,"
meaning destruction of habitats no longer counted as threatening animals. This opened up protected wildlife homes to drilling and development. Former wildlife officials from both political parties warned that move alone could push some of our most iconic species toward extinction. This new memo would finish the job, leaving animals with almost nothing standing between them and disaster.
Without the Endangered Species Act, we would not have the bald eagle, the American bison, or the gray wolf, just to name a few. If the law is rewritten in this way, countless species will be lost forever.
Secretary Burgum and Director Nesvik can withdraw this memo right now, before it does any damage. And if they refuse, Congress needs to make it crystal clear in law that killing an endangered animal is still illegal, whether or not someone meant to do it.
Sign the petition and tell the Interior Department to rescind this memo, and tell Congress to protect the Endangered Species Act, before we lose the animals this law was written to save.