Center for Biological Diversity
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Endangered Earth
No. 1267, October 17, 2024

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Burrowing Owls (and Newts, Flowers) Near Protection
After decades of work by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the California Fish and Game Commission has unanimously voted to protect western burrowing owls [[link removed]] as a “candidate” species under the California Endangered Species Act. That move safeguards burrowing owls statewide while wildlife officials decide whether to grant permanent protection. We first petitioned for these charming, big-eyed little owls in 2003.
The only owl species to nest and roost underground, burrowing owls often place mammal dung around their burrows to attract the dung beetles they love to eat. Threats like habitat loss from development have eliminated (or nearly eliminated) them as a breeding species from almost a third of their former California range.
Also last week, in response to our petitions, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that Crater Lake newts [[link removed]] (aka Mazama newts) and a rare wildflower called Tecopa bird’s beak [[link removed]] may qualify for federal Endangered Species Act protection.
Coyote pup in a field [[link removed]]
Investigation: Wildlife Services, Killers for Hire
A vivid, in-depth investigative report [[link removed]] conducted by NPR examines the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program [[link removed]] , which the Center has been fighting for years. Officials claim the program only kills native wild animals when they attack livestock or cause damage, but NPR’s analysis shows it routinely kills native wildlife who haven’t hurt livestock at all.
In Montana coyotes are frequent victims of the program’s slaughter, with helicopters commonly used, killing an average of six coyotes per dispatch. On one occasion, though, 61 coyotes were killed by helicopter in under four hours.
“That’s a bloodbath,” the Center’s Collette Adkins told NPR. “It’s horrible to imagine the amount of suffering involved.”
Help us defy Wildlife Services’ indiscriminate killing with a gift to the Center’s Saving Life on Earth Fund . [[link removed]]
An entangled North Atlantic right whale and her calf [[link removed]]
Rare Right Whale Died Because of Fishing Gear
NOAA Fisheries has announced that the death of a critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, found near Martha’s Vineyard in January, was caused by a chronic entanglement in lobster gear from Maine. There are only about 360 of these whales left on Earth.
“Dying this way is a horrendous fate that no creature deserves, but it’ll happen again and again until we get these deadly fishing ropes out of the water,” Kristen Monsell, the Center’s oceans legal director, told AP [[link removed]] .
Speak up for whale-safe fishing gear: Tell NOAA Fisheries to champion pop-up gear, which can save the lives of countless marine animals. [[link removed]]
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Watch Our Fifth Annual Food Justice Film Festival
We’re gearing up for next week’s free, online Food Justice Film Festival — held Oct. 24-27 — with films exploring the links between food, the environment, and social justice.
· Dolores is about legendary activist Dolores Huerta’s fight for farmworker rights.
· The Smell of Money highlights Elsie Herring’s North Carolina community battling generations of injustice perpetrated by the pork industry.
· Into the Weeds follows groundskeeper Lee Johnson’s struggle against agrochemical giant Monsanto (now Bayer) after a terminal cancer diagnosis.
· Invisible Valley documents the environmental and social crises tied to the disparity between undocumented farmworkers and wealthy snowbirds.
New and returning participants: Learn more about the festival [[link removed]] and sign up to take part [[link removed]] .
And don’t miss our interviews with filmmakers, activists, and organizers [[link removed]] (including Dolores Huerta herself).
A collage of a dolphin, pelican, and seal [[link removed]]
Protecting California From Another Tragic Oil Spill
In 2015 a 30-year-old pipeline burst, spewing about 450,000 gallons of oil near Refugio State Beach, California. The spill fouled a pristine coastline and killed hundreds of seals, dolphins, pelicans, and other animals. Now an oil company is trying to restart production offshore and move oil through this failed pipeline by the end of the year, without environmental review or key permits for activities in the coastal zone.
We’re fighting to prevent that [[link removed]] — and, possibly, an even worse spill than the one in 2015. Following our field visit exposing damage to the coastal zone, the California Coastal Commission halted pipeline work, at least for the time being.
Salmon swimming along a riverbed [[link removed]]
Revelator : Indigenous Ecosystem Management
In this new Revelator article [[link removed]] , anthropologist Jillian Everly reveals how Indigenous traditional knowledge is essential for both cultural reconciliation and ecosystem restoration.
If you don’t already, subscribe to the free weekly Revelator e-newsletter [[link removed]] for more wildlife and conservation news.
Parrot resting on a rock [[link removed]]
That’s Wild: Revenge of the Parrots
As people destroy wildlife habitat, many creatures are driven out of their homes — and when they manage to survive, it’s sometimes in inconvenient places.
Along Argentina’s coast deforestation has forced vast numbers of burrowing parrots [[link removed]] to relocate. They’ve taken up fall and winter residence in a couple of small towns, including one of about 5,000 people called Hilario Ascasubi, where birds can outnumber humans tenfold. The birds’ displacement causes frequent, serious power outages and civic disruptions. They also poop prodigiously, screech to beat the band, and transmit diseases like psittacosis.
Wiser land stewardship is clearly a big part of the answer: Argentina’s forests are being decimated. And it doesn’t help that the country’s environmental ministry was recently dissolved when its new right-wing president took office.
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Center for Biological Diversity
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