Endangered Species Act Essay

Boom! Bang! The sound of animals being shot is unbearable. Animals all over the world are being slaughtered for meat, fur, and more. The animals that need the most protection at the moment are endangered and threatened species. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973 to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend (U.S. 1). The Endangered Species Act includes native plants and animals identified as “endangered” and “threatened” (U.S. 1). With this act in place, there is an astonishing opportunity to save these affected species and eventually remove them from the endangered and/or threatened species list. Although there are people who see the ESA as an opportunity to save these plants and animals,

The ESA protects them by making it illegal to destroy their living environment and killing the species. It is encouraged to help save these animals by protecting their ecosystem. “It’s unacceptable to see lives, human or animal, being lost because of legislative roadblocks and political rivalries” (Carmichael 1). Think about it this way, if we put ourselves in their shoes, we would not appreciate someone destroying our home and killing our family members to develop an area. Recently there has been a case about whether or not to repeal the ESA. Some arguments include that the ESA has barely changed the living environments of endangered and threatened species. In an article by Matt Kettmann, he states, “For species that took centuries to decline, 40 years is probably not enough time to recover. But based on the data that’s out there right now, the take home message is that the Endangered Species Act has done a pretty good job, a really good job actually, of preventing extinctions. But it’s done a really poor job promoting the recovery of species that are on the list” (Kettmann 1). Change does not happen overnight. The debate started because the ESA is restricting careers from working to their fullest potential. The ESA prevents anyone from disrupting an