Whales Need More Than Words — Tell Costco to Act |
People have just begun to understand awe-inspiring ocean dwellers like minke whales, humpback whales, and endangered right whales and leatherback sea turtles. Sadly too many of these creatures are entangled every year in the commercial fishing gear used to catch American lobsters.
In 2023 the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 26,000 Center supporters asked Costco to stop buying American lobster from fisheries posing risk to marine animals. In response Costco tweaked its "commitment to sustainability” statement to acknowledge the benefits of ropeless fishing gear, an effective, whale-safe alternative to commercial gear. That’s nice, but words alone won’t save whales and sea turtles. To protect them from painful — and often deadly — fishing-gear entanglements, Costco must join Whole Foods, Hello Fresh and other seafood retailers in carrying 100% sustainably caught and certified lobster products. Urge Costco to take that meaningful action now. |
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Court Halts Wolf Trapping in Grizzly Bear Habitat |
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Toxic Plan for Grand Canyon Area Nixed |
Responding to criticism from the Center and other conservation groups, a federal agency has cancelled its plan to spray toxic insecticides within cherished, culturally important landscapes on northern Arizona’s Colorado Plateau.
Aimed at killing native grasshoppers, the poisons could have been sprayed inside portions of three national monuments: Vermilion Cliffs, Grand Canyon-Parashant, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon. “This a good start,” said Taylor McKinnon, our Southwest director. “But given the far-reaching threats insecticides pose to wildlife and wild places, federal officials shouldn’t use them to target native species on any of our treasured public lands.” Did you know many pesticides are still allowed throughout the national wildlife refuge system? Take action to get them out. |
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Lawsuit Filed to Protect Rare Snails |
The Center has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protection for Arkansas mudalia snails, rare freshwater invertebrates found in just a few places in Arkansas and Missouri. Despite clear evidence of their dwindling populations and dramatic habitat loss, the Trump administration withheld protection in 2019 — so we went to court last week.
Freshwater gastropods like these snails are some of the most imperiled species in North America. They’re also some of the most important, playing a key role in maintaining nutrient balances in their streamside ecosystems. |
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Feds Sued Over Destructive Grazing in Arizona |
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Federal Sage Grouse Plan Won’t Save Their Habitat |
A plan from the Bureau of Land Management, supposed to protect imperiled greater sage grouse, falls far short of what’s needed to stem the charismatic birds’ downward spiral toward extinction.
The agency’s proposed change — to 77 land-use plans — covers 69 million acres of public land across the U.S. West. Sage grouse are an umbrella species whose survival is closely linked to the health of the vast, threatened sagebrush sea ecosystem they call home. |
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Revelator: Celebrating Baby Gorillas |
Every September tens of thousands of people from across the globe flock to Musanze, Rwanda, to attend Kwita Izina, a lavish ceremony celebrating and naming the baby mountain gorillas born in the previous year.
The celebration has come a long way from the days of rampant gorilla poaching, when it was just a few park rangers gathering around a campfire.
Read about it in The Revelator. And subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news. |
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That’s Wild: I’ll Have What Anchovy’s Having |
Scientists in Spain have found that anchovies — who travel in groups of millions, with a single female laying more than 20,000 eggs per year — can spawn with such a ruckus that they churn water up like a major storm. And that’s a good thing: Water turbulence mixes heat and nutrients throughout the ocean, which helps marine diversity as ocean temperatures become more stratified under climate change. As Hakai Magazine recently reported, research on anchovy sex won the satiric Ig Nobel Prize for humorous, thought-provoking achievement. Check out this video to better understand how mixing ocean temperatures benefits ecosystems. |
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States
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