page_title: Endangered Species Act of 1969
section_title: Characteristics of the Act
hierarchical_section_title: Endangered Species Act of 1969 / Characteristics of the Act
caption_attribution_description: English: Reptilia (reptiles), based on: File:Buberel cayman 3.jpg File:Crotalus adamanteus (5).jpg File:Karettschildkroete 01.jpg File:Henry at Invercargill.jpg All of them are either under a free licence already in Wikicommons or in the public domain
context_page_description: The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 was an expansion of the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 which authorized the United States Secretary of the Interior to develop a comprehensive list of species or subspecies of animals threatened with worldwide extinction. It also prohibited the importation from any foreign country any animal-whole or in part, any product, or any egg belonging to a species on that list. Limited exceptions for scientific, educational, zoological, or propagational purposes and for certain cases of commercial "economic hardship" were allowed under strict permitting procedures.
context_section_description: The Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1969 was largely an expansion of the Lacey Act of 1900.  In 1969, it was amended to protect species beyond game and wild birds.
  It granted protection to amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, and crustaceans, groups previously unprotected by any U.S. law.  It also expanded the maximum punishment for poaching to a possible $10,000 and up to a year of jail time.  
  In addition, it established two lists into which endangered species could be sorted, foreign and domestic.  The act then allowed for species on the domestic list to be given extra protection by United States agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  It also stated that species on the foreign endangered list could not be brought into the United States.  
  The 1969 act further amended other existing laws to prohibit throughout the United States the sale or purchase by any person of any domestically endangered species or part or product thereof that was taken in any manner in violation of the laws or regulations of a state or foreign country.  It also established the framework for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITIES which, "accords varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs."  Finally, the 1969 Act authorized up to $15 million to be appropriated to acquire land for the purpose of conserving, protecting, restoring, or propagating any endangered species.
caption: Multiple images of reptiles
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