{"id":2419,"date":"2020-12-15T21:16:29","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T21:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=139750"},"modified":"2020-12-15T21:16:29","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T21:16:29","slug":"despite-90-population-plunge-trump-admin-refuses-monarch-butterflies-endangered-species-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/15\/despite-90-population-plunge-trump-admin-refuses-monarch-butterflies-endangered-species-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite 90% Population Plunge, Trump Admin Refuses Monarch Butterflies Endangered Species Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conservations cried foul Tuesday after the Trump administration declared the monarch butterfly a “candidate” for threatened or endangered species status, but declined to go any further to protect the imperiled insect, whose numbers have plummeted by 90% in recent decades. <\/p>\n

“[Monarchs] need the comprehensive protection that comes only from the Endangered Species Act, which would save them and so many other beleaguered pollinators that share their habitat.”
\u2014Tierra Curry,
Center for Biological Diversity<\/span><\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/em> reports<\/a> Charlie Wooley, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Great Lakes regional office, said the monarch butterfly’s protection status would be subject to annual review going forward, but that no further action would be taken for several years due to the number of other creatures awaiting consideration under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).<\/p>\n

“We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act,” FWS Director Aurelia Skipwith said in a statement. “However, before we can propose listing, we must focus resources on our higher-priority listing actions.”<\/p>\n

According to FWS, 161 species, or 64% of the animals on the list for review, are considered a higher priority than the monarch. <\/p>\n

The iconic orange and black butterfly, renowned for its epic annual migrations from the northern U.S. and southern Canada to Florida, California, and Mexico, has suffered a precipitous plunge in population in North America this century. FWS says the number of eastern monarchs fell from around 384 million in 1996 to 60 million in 2019, and in the West their numbers declined from 1.2 million in 1997 to fewer than 30,000 last year. <\/p>\n

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