More than 1,300 of the world’s top biologists sent a scathing letter to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on Monday, criticizing the country’s proposed endangered species legislation. They are upset that the bill would protect no species habitat on provincial land, but only on federal land — and then only at the federal cabinet’s discretion. The federal lands that could be protected make up only 5 percent of all the land required to protect the species, according to the scientists. Stephen Carpenter, the president of the Ecological Society of America, called Canada the “weak link” in species protection in North America. The bill may be passed before the year is out.
