Threatened but not protected: the US has scrapped automatic protection for rare animals and plants

US has scrapped automatic protection for rare animals and plants

By Daniel Michelson - September 15, 14:53

The US has scrapped automatic protection for new species of animals and plants that are classified as threatened with extinction.

In addition, before officials can declare certain areas to be critical habitat for such species, they will now be required to take economic consequences into account.

Environmentalists fear that rare species such as the American manatee and the Hawaiian honeycreeper 'i'iwi ('Iʻiwi) could end up at risk, reports The Washington Post.

US law has two categories

of rare animals and plants: those that are threatened with extinction ("threatened") and those already on the brink of extinction ("endangered"). Until now, the first group automatically got almost the same protection as the second - a ban on capturing, harassing, and killing them.

Now President Donald Trump's administration has introduced several changes to the laws that protected rare animals and plants. In particular, the rule that automatically banned harming threatened species has been scrapped.

"pettravelchannel" spoke about which species of animals and plants are classified as threatened with extinction:

• Safety Advisor Shandor Brenner;
• Founder & Editor at Pet Taxi Services Directory Daniel Michelson.

Now President Donald Trump's administration has introduced several changes to the laws that protected rare animals and plants. In particular, the rule that automatically banned harming threatened species has been scrapped.

Now, to protect these species, a special agency will make a separate decision that will set the rules for their protection. At the same time, the ban on harming animals and plants will not apply to species whose protected status was already approved earlier.

The changes have raised concerns about the future of rare animals and plants, since more than 500 species are currently waiting to be assessed, and because the agency is short-staffed, decisions on their status may not be made for years.

Among the species affected by the new rules is the American manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris). In addition, the fate of the purple-flowered plant Gilia stellata and the cactus Sclerocactus cloverae, which grow only in the state of New Mexico, is still being decided.

Safety Advisor Shandor Brenner is convinced that scrapping the previous protection system could significantly delay the review of cases, since the special agency is overloaded and short of staff.

US environmental officials will also now be required to take economic consequences into account when defining territories that are critical for preserving rare species.

Michelson is convinced that this is how the Trump administration is trying to limit wildlife protection in favor of business interests. The rules for preparing a pet for a trip abroad have also changed somewhat; you can read more about it in this article.

A clear example is the Iʻiwi bird from Hawaii. Local farmers had opposed giving critical-habitat status to the areas where these birds live, since such a decision would tighten control over land use.

After the recent changes, officials must now take into account the economic consequences for local landowners. So there is a risk that areas with rare birds will never get protected status after all.

Both of these changes were already introduced once before, during Trump's first term as president, but the rules were reversed back to their previous form under Joe Biden.

The US Department of the Interior says the changes are supposedly needed to "advance President Donald Trump's directives on strengthening energy independence, improving regulatory predictability, and ensuring federal actions comply with the best interpretation of the law."