There’s been an unexpected victim of President Trump’s decision to freeze all regulatory action within the Federal Government. The rusty-patched bumblebee has seen its numbers drop by 87 percent in the past couple of decades.
As a result, reports The Washington Post, the bee was placed on the endangered species list by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last month. The bee was thus supposed to have been subject to federal protections from habitat destruction and pesticides.
But one day before those protections were supposed to go into effect, Trump froze regulations. Federal wildlife officials are hoping to provide protection for the bee by the end of next month. The yellow-and-black striped critter with the long black tail is expected to go extinct in forty years if no action is taken to protect it.
The Wildlife Section has developed an action plan to restore the rusty-patched bumblebee to its former glory.