Bush Wants To Allow Killing of Critical Endangered Species

Administration eyes changes on endangered animal policy

The Bush administration is proposing far-reaching changes to conservation policies that would allow hunters, circuses and the pet industry to kill, capture and import animals on the brink of extinction in other countries.

Giving Americans access to endangered animals, officials said, would feed the gigantic U.S. demand for live animals, skins, parts and trophies and generate profits that would allow poor nations to pay for conservation of the remaining animals and their habitats.

The latest proposal involves an interpretation of the Endangered Species Act that deviates radically from the course followed by Republican and Democratic administrations since President Nixon signed the act in 1973. The law established broad protection for endangered species, most of which are not native to America, and effectively prohibited trade in them.



http://www.ljworld.com/section/worldnation/story/148246