Animal rights and conservation advocates are outraged over President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)—Aurelia Skipwith, a former executive at agrochemical giant Monsanto—warning that she will continue the administration’s ongoing efforts “to dismantle protections for wildlife, national parks, and monuments.”

“Skipwith will always put the interests of her old boss Monsanto and other polluters ahead of America’s wildlife and help the most anti-environmental administration in history do even more damage.”
—Brett Hartl, CBD

A biologist and lawyer, Skipwith worked (pdf) for Monsanto for six years before taking positions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), then the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). She has been with the Interior Department since Secretary Ryan Zinke appointed her to serve as the deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife, and parks last year.

“Aurelia Skipwith has been working in the Trump administration all along to end protections for billions of migratory birds, gut endangered species safeguards, and eviscerate national monuments,” noted Brett Hartl of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD). “Skipwith will always put the interests of her old boss Monsanto and other polluters ahead of America’s wildlife and help the most anti-environmental administration in history do even more damage.”

Skipwith, in a statement, expressed pride in her role implementing the Trump administration and Zinke’s agenda, and vowed to achieve “a conservation legacy second only to President Teddy Roosevelt.”