THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: DOES THE BLANKET RULE PROTECT ANIMAL OR HUMAN INTERESTS?
Author: Sara Myers
The Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) was first passed by Congress in 1973. “The purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend.” The ESA was passed in response to President Nixon’s conservation initiative, which emphasized preventing the extinction of species. Now more than ever, human activities are a major threat to species extinction. Currently, we are “facing an extinction crisis.” If action is not taken to further protect species, the global rate of species loss will accelerate. Presently, the rate of extinction is “at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it was averaged over the past 10 million years.” Indeed, nearly one million species are facing extinction within the next few decades.