For 50 years, the Endangered Species Act has protected threatened wildlife by recognizing a basic truth: you can't save an animal while destroying the only place it can survive. That protection disappeared this summer.

In July 2026, the Trump administration rewrote the legal definition of harm under the Endangered Species Act, eliminating habitat destruction as a form of harm to endangered wildlife. The U.S. Department of the Interior argued the previous rule cast too wide a net and got in the way of economic development. But conservation groups and lawmakers warn the change effectively legalizes destroying the homes endangered species depend on, as long as the animals themselves aren't touched directly.

Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have introduced a resolution to reverse the rule change and restore the original definition of harm. "This rule is nonsensical, and endangers the species this law set out to protect," Whitehouse said in a released statement. Their effort is backed by a coalition of major conservation organizations, including the Sierra Club, Oceana, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, alongside a lawsuit challenging the rule and companion legislation introduced in the House of Representatives.

Endangered species do not need permission to survive. They need the habitat that keeps them alive. Weakening that protection puts decades of conservation progress at risk, and threatens to push already-vulnerable animals closer to extinction.

Congress has the power to undo this rule before the damage becomes permanent. Sign the petition to urge Congress to pass this resolution and restore habitat protections for endangered species, before more of their homes are lost for good.