North Atlantic right whale

3 iconic animals show the value of the US Endangered Species Act – and the harm in stripping it away

<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/762187/original/file-20260924-50-w6dr0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.1&rect=49%2C351%2C2177%2C1451&q=45&auto=format&w=1050&h=700&fit=crop" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A rescued Florida panther, one of fewer than 300 of the endangered big cats alive today, is released into the wild.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/myfwcmedia/8437968289">Mark Cunningham/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-859.ZO.html">used to be considered against the law</a> in America to starve a member of an endangered species to death or harm it by destroying its home. </p> <p>That’s changing as the federal government chips away at the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/16/chapter-35"