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First enacted in 1973, the Endangered Species Act is one of the most critical laws that have been put in place to protect our environment and the organisms that live in it. It protects more than the threatened and endangered animals, in fact. When restrictions are placed on certain activities because of their potential to affect threatened or endangered organisms, those same restrictions serve to a degree to protect the non-threatened, non-endangered organisms that live in association with them. Entire ecosystems are often protected. Some, however, are more critical of the Endangered Species Act than they are complimentary. They contend it should either be abolished or greatly paired down. Supporters of the Act, in turn, often argue that the Act should be strengthened. The intent of this paper is to explore both sides of this argument and to try and reach a conclusion as to exactly what should happen to the Endangered Species Act. .
The effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act is hard to argue. The US Fish and Wildlife Service Reports (2009) that twenty-two species that are at one time listed as endangered have now been taken off the list as they are no longer endangered. Only two species that were ever put on the list prior to their actual extinction have now become extinct (US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2009). Additionally, twenty-three other species that were once classified as endangered have now recovered to the point that they are considered threatened, a less critical status (US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2009). Less encouraging, however, is that far too many species actually go extinct while they are being considered for listing (US Fish and Wildlife Service, 2009). Ironically, many critics of the Endangered Species Act argue that the fact that key animals have recovered justifies abolishing the Act in its entirety! Conversely, it is argued by proponents of the Endangered Species Act that the need for the Endangered Species Act obviously does not end when any one animal is taken off the list.