Donald Trump and Elon Musk are unjustly firing thousands of federal employees who make the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act work. They have also frozen funding for nonprofit organizations that partner with the agencies to conserve wildlife.
In addition, they are devising new policies to undo vital species protections. And, leaders in Congress are seeking to rewrite wildlife laws to favor wealthy industry bosses.
The damage is already being done to wildlife and the people who work to protect them. We’ve heard stories of endangered species recovery efforts being stalled and outright stopped. When species are on the brink, delay often means doom.
But our community has power if we speak with one voice. Now is the time for collective action to turn up the heat. Congress needs to be the check on executive power that they’re supposed to be.
What can we do?
- Pressure Members of Congress with emails, calls, on social media, and asking questions at town halls or other events.
Send an email to your Representative and Senators
Tweet to your Representative and Senators
Script to Call Your Representative
Hello. My name is [YOUR NAME], and I live in [TOWN, STATE]. I am a constituent.
I urge the Representative to support the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act and reject actions to dismantle and rewrite these laws.
Thank you.
- Get ready to organize by watching Activist Training Lab videos on YouTube.
- Make in-person connections with other wildlife advocates and take action together. Need a starting point? Check out our coalition member organizations.
Learn More about What’s Happening
A ‘recipe for extinction’: can the US’s envied nature protections survive Trump and his ‘God squad’? (The Guardian). A slew of early actions by the Trump administration has set about throwing open more land and waters for the fossil fuel industry, triggering the reversal of regulations that strengthen the Endangered Species Act.
Trump’s job cuts at this overlooked agency put every American at risk (Vox). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service terminated around 420 employees who were newly hired or recently promoted, amounting to about 5 percent of the agency’s workforce.
Leaked emails show the nation’s leading wildlife agency has halted critical funding for conservation (Vox). Several nonprofit organizations that receive funding from the Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed with Vox that they received stop-work orders.
