Public commenter urges Fish and Wildlife Service to protect Rice's whale, criticizes funding cuts

A public commenter urged officials at the Fish and Wildlife Service to step up protections for imperiled wildlife, saying "a mere 5% of mammal biomass on planet Earth is still wild." The commenter said the world is undergoing a biodiversity crash driven by human activity and warned that funding cuts and ad hoc exemptions threaten species recovery.

The commenter listed human-driven causes for the decline — "Climate change, deforestation, habitat destruction, pollution, overexploitation" — and said the agency must not abandon its conservation role. "That is your job at the Fish and Wildlife Service," the commenter said.

The remark singled out the so-called "God Squad" and the Endangered Species Act, asserting officials were invoking exemptions to remove protections for the Rice's whale "of which only 50 are left, just to promote more oil and gas development." The commenter added, addressing an individual named in the transcript, "Mr. Nezbeth, generations will look back to understand why species on your watch went the way of the dodo."

The commenter closed with a moral appeal: "How much of God's creation must be a sacrifice to the fossil fuel industry? Right now, it's not a good look." The transcript records no response or formal action during these remarks.

The comments raise policy questions about proposed funding reductions for conservation programs and the use of Endangered Species Act exemptions; the transcript does not record any replies from agency officials or formal votes on the matters raised.