FWS memo narrows Endangered Species Act to intentional harm only

A September 14 internal memo from US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik directs field offices to reinterpret the Endangered Species Act so it only prohibits actions “specifically intending to target an animal.” Accidental deaths — such as a vessel striking a whale or felling a tree that kills roosting bats — would no longer count as prohibited “takes,” extending an earlier change that removed habitat destruction from the definition of harm.