WASHINGTON— The Trump administration today proposed removing protections for several species that look similar to threatened and endangered wildlife, including the puma, shovelnose sturgeon and several species of blue butterflies and turtles.

These protections are critical tools to prevent threats to the federally protected Florida panther, Miami blue butterfly, pallid sturgeon, bog turtle, desert tortoise and Pearl River map turtle.

“It’s disturbing to see the Trump administration moving to strip crucial Endangered Species Act protections from yet more animals, with potentially devastating consequences,” said Lia Comerford, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Nothing has changed for these pumas, blue butterflies, sturgeon and turtles. They still look like they did yesterday and will continue to be easily mistaken for imperiled species. These protections are still sorely needed to protect the imperiled species from further decline and to keep these look-alike animals from becoming threatened or endangered themselves. The Fish and Wildlife Service has offered no good reason for removing or revising protections for these species. This is the Trump administration continuing its bizarre war on biodiversity.”

Many animal and plant species closely resemble one another, making it difficult for wildlife enforcement to distinguish between species protected under the Endangered Species Act and species that look similar to them. The law allows for these similar-looking species to also be protected to ensure threatened and endangered wildlife aren’t harmed. Today’s action threatens both the imperiled species and their look-alike species whose Endangered Species Act protections are being removed or revised.

The Trump administration proposed to remove protections from pumas, which would harm endangered Florida panthers; from cassius blue, ceraunus blue and nickerbean blue butterflies, which would harm the endangered Miami blue butterfly; and the shovelnose sturgeon, which would harm endangered pallid sturgeon. The administration also proposed revising protections for bog turtles, desert tortoises and Pearl River map turtles.