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Act Now on New Bill to Restore Crucial Protections for At-Risk Species

Dear John,

In August, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service finalized three regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that drastically undermine this crucial conservation law. In response, Representative Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) introduced the Protect America's Wildlife and Fish in Need of Conservation Act (PAW and FIN Conservation Act), which would repeal these crippling regulations.

Under the agencies' rule changes, the many rollbacks of effective ESA implementation include the following:
* Species designated as threatened are no longer automatically granted the protections afforded to species listed as endangered--paradoxically making it more likely that they will ultimately need endangered species protections.

* The agencies implementing the ESA are now allowed to collect data on the possible economic impacts of granting federal protections to a species, even though the law clearly states that only scientific data may be considered in determining whether a species is in danger.

* Limits have been placed on the areas within a species' range eligible for critical habitat designation.

* Restrictions have been placed on expert input, undermining the process by which various agencies confer about potential impacts on imperiled species.

Unconscionably, these regulations were finalized just months after a UN report warned of "unprecedented" and "accelerating" global mass extinctions caused by human activity.

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What You Can Do
Urge your members of Congress to cosponsor the PAW and FIN Conservation Act (H.R. 4348/S. 2491). You can contact your legislators via AWI's Compassion Index website. ([link removed])

Please share this eAlert with your family, friends, and co-workers, and ask them to take action too. Thank you for speaking out on behalf of wildlife!

Sincerely,

Cathy Liss
President

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Photo by 2630ben

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Animal Welfare Institute
900 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003
(202) 337-2332 | www.awionline.org ([link removed])

The Animal Welfare Institute is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere: in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

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