People or beetles?

It sounds too crazy to be real, but here it is, right in Calvert County: people may lose their homes to protect an endangered beetle. An interesting quote: "'I would equate the loss of the Puritan tiger beetle with the loss of the polar bear,' said Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland in College Park. 'If it had fur and a cute smile and were the size of a cat, people would be more concerned about the loss of this thing.'" What do you think?