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 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 (aka Mazama newts) and a rare wildflower called Tecopa bird’s beak may qualify for federal Endangered Species Act protection.
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Investigation: Wildlife Services, Killers for Hire |
A vivid, in-depth investigative report conducted by NPR examines the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program, 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. |
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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.
Speak up for whale-safe fishing gear: Tell NOAA Fisheries to champion pop-up gear, which can save the lives of countless marine animals. |
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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.
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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 and sign up to take part. And don’t miss our interviews with filmmakers, activists, and organizers (including Dolores Huerta herself). |
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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 — 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. |
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Revelator: Indigenous Ecosystem Management |
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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 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
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States
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