E-Ink News Daily

The Trump administration quietly distributed an internal memo to US Fish and Wildlife Service field offices directing a radical reinterpretation of the Endangered Species Act, limiting prohibitions to actions specifically intended to target animals rather than inadvertent harm. This follows an earlier rule change that removed habitat destruction from the ESA's definition of 'harm,' now effectively allowing preventable animal deaths as long as killing is not the landowner's motivation. Conservation groups expressed alarm, accusing the administration of using narrow definitions to gut environmental protections.