To Save The Animals, We Destroy Their HomesHow a good law created a perverse incentive.

From the show

When Rewards Backfire

The Endangered Species Act was designed to protect vulnerable wildlife. Instead, it can encourage landowners to destroy natural habitats to avoid costly regulations, a phenomenon known as "shoot, shovel, and shut up." This policy inadvertently turns conservation into a liability. Landowners preemptively clear their land, threatening the very species the law aims to save, like the red-cockaded woodpecker.