Trump's Administration Slash Endangered Species Protections

0:00Trump's administration has listed the fewest endangered species for protection since the endangered species act kicked off back in 1973 in his first term, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service added just 22 species to the list, hovering around I-1,700. Now in his second term, zero new ones have joined. Earlier this week, a panel of Trump appointees, known as the GOT Squad, loaded to strip protections from species threatened by oil and gas drilling in, the Gulf of Mexico. That includes the rice's whale with only 51 left worldwide. It's just the fourth time this rare committee has stepped in since 1978. Conservation experts like Noah Greenwald from the Center for Biological Diversity aren't shocked. They point to a backlog of about 400 species, waiting on decisions, lawsuits piling up over missed deadlines, and the administration dodging the law. Those echo that, calling out tactics like labeling species as warranted, but precluded,

1:01trapping them in limbo. Staff cuts hit hard, too, with the agency losing nearly 20% of its workforce last year through buyouts and retirements. That slow science enlistings even more, like the decade-long push for monarch butterflies down 80% since the late 1990s. All this ramps up risks for wildlife while development pushes forward, leaving a biological debt that's growing faster than protections can catch up. Canada News today, powered by AI bringing you what matters. I'm Cory with The Story.