In addition to being unfair to people, the Endangered Species Act is a disaster for the species at risk. Trees that might attract a listed bird are cut down. Brush that might provide cover is cleared. Listed animals become the enemy. Richard L. Stroup, senior associate at the Political Economy Research Center in Bozeman, MT, in USA Today, June 30, 1993.
Owners destroy habitat attractive to listed species before they can migrate there.
They destroy the habitat of species that have been proposed for listing. Sometimes landowners even kill members of listed species before federal authorities can find them and declare the property critical habitat. . . But as the costs of the ESA grow, they're coming to view wildlife as a threat. Investor's Business Daily, Aug. 26, 1994.