After helping prevent extinctions for 50 years, the Endangered Species Act itself may be at risk

[Judi Lynn]

Politics Aug 4, 2023 2:39 PM EDT

SHARON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Biologist Ashley Wilson carefully disentangled a bat from netting above a tree-lined river and examined the wriggling, furry mammal in her headlamp’s glow. “Another big brown,” she said.

It was a common type, one of many Wilson and colleagues had snagged in the southern Michigan countryside. They were looking for increasingly scarce Indiana and northern long-eared bats, which historically migrated there for birthing season.

“It’s a bad suggestion if we do not catch one,” said Allen Kurta, an Eastern Michigan University professor who has studied bats for more than 40 years.

They didn’t that evening. During 16 nights this summer, they netted 177 bats — but just one Indiana and no northern long-eared specimens.

Both are designated as imperiled under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. law intended to keep animal and plant types from dying out. Enacted in 1973, it protects 1,683 domestic species.

More:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/after-helping-prevent-extinctions-for-50-years-the-endangered-species-act-itself-may-be-at-risk

[hunter]

1. Maybe it would be easier to make a list of species that are not endangered...

... and assume all others are.

[jfz9580m]

2. That is sad.nt