Endangered Means There Is Still Time
The Endangered Species Act

Ecosystems

Biodiversity 

Extinction

Endangered Species Act

What You Can Do

Resources

Kid's Corner

The purpose of the Endangered Species Act is to conserve and protect threatened and endangered species and the ecosystems they depend on to survive.

Under this law, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the NOAA Fisheries and the National Marine Fisheries Service were given responsibility to:

•Create and maintain a national list of endangered and threatened species

• Enforce protection for listed species

• Assist others with protecting species

• Develop plans for restoring listed species so that they no longer need protection

Under the Act, Congress made it illegal to:

• Import, export, or sell listed animals and plants across state lines

• Kill, harm, harass, possess,or take protected animals from the wild without a species permit

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