Comments to US Fish & Wildlife Service regarding downlisting the West Indian manatee to “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act

SUMMARY

The Animal Law Committee (Lori Barrett, Chair) submitted a letter in response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s request for comments with respect to a proposal to downgrade the West Indian manatee from “endangered” to “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The Committee urges the USFWS to continue to recognize the West Indian manatee as endangered in light of multiple factors, including continued destruction and modification of its habitat and range, overutilization of the species for commercial, recreational and scientific purposes, disease and predation, inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, and natural and manmade factors affecting the species’ continued existence.