One Democrat running for president is now among those sounding the alarm as the Trump administration ends protections for some endangered animals. Last week the president’s team put the finishing touches on a plan that will weaken laws that protect animals that are vulnerable to extinction. Democratic presidential contender Julián Castro is speaking out against the plan saying Trump “is the most anti-animal president in our history.” Castro says, if he wins in 2020 he will try to reverse the damage being done. He wrote an essay addressing this, saying in part:
As president, I will appoint an Interior Secretary who’s not a lobbyist for oil and gas corporations, but a conservation scientist committed to cleaning up Trump’s environmental disaster. We will create a $2 billion National Wildlife Recovery Fund to combat the extinction threat, protect over 30 percent of America’s lands and oceans for wildlife preservation with a 50 percent goal by 2050, and crack down on hunting elephants and other endangered species by doubling the Multinational Species Conservation Fund.
We each have not only an opportunity, but a responsibility to advance the welfare of animals and protect endangered species from extinction.
Many animal activists are also doing their best to make sure this topic stays at the forefront.
South Florida animal expert and activist Ron Magill wrote an opinion piece for the Miami Herald saying:
” I cannot overstate the consequences and irreparable damage that can result from some of these decisions”
“We currently are experiencing what is officially called the “Anthropocene,” also known as “The Sixth Mass Extinction,” which is the highest rate of extinction since the loss of the dinosaurs 45 million years ago.
Yet, rather than striving to provide additional support toward preserving the world’s precious wildlife, this administration has chosen to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act, the most effective piece of legislation ever written in this country to protect our world’s precious natural treasures.”
