No. 1285, February 20, 2025 |
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Lawsuit Challenges Killing of Texas Wildlife |
Wildlife Services is an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture known to kill hundreds of thousands of native animals every year, largely at the behest of the livestock industry. In Texas the program sets cruel, deadly traps for mountain lions that pose unacceptable risks to state-protected black bears — all while relying on outdated, faulty environmental analyses that don’t account for new and critical information on those risks. The program also fails to analyze potential harm to bears from deadly, indiscriminate M-44 cyanide bombs, even though Texas has the highest U.S. rate of M-44 use.
So this week the Center for Biological Diversity sued Wildlife Services to confront these problems and defend Texas wildlife.
“Wildlife Services needs to quit using old analyses to justify its slaughter, especially when the stakes are so high for beloved black bears and mountain lions,” said Tala DiBenedetto, an attorney with the Center’s Carnivore Conservation program. “Texans want to see these majestic creatures continue to exist and thrive in the state.” Give to our Future for the Wild Fund to be part of our fight. |
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Trump Fires Thousands in National Parks and Beyond |
On Valentine’s Day the Trump administration, via Elon Musk, fired at least 2,300 federal workers at the Department of the Interior, including 1,000 National Park Service employees, 800 Bureau of Land Management employees, and 400 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees. Most of those fired were working through a probationary period and have limited rights to appeal.
“How horrifying that a petulant, unelected billionaire is allowed to loot America’s beloved national parks and sacrifice our critical wildlife agency,” said the Center’s Taylor McKinnon. “These cruel, clumsy firings will damage national parks from coast to coast and push our most imperiled animals and plants closer to extinction.” If you live in the United States, raise your voice to defend democracy, wildlife, and the people devoted to protecting U.S. public lands and waters. |
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Petition Filed to Eliminate Toxic Pesticides in Food |
The Center just sent a petition to President Donald Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and federal agencies urging them to eliminate dangerous pesticides from U.S. food. Kennedy has repeatedly acknowledged that many of the country’s most-used pesticides, including atrazine and glyphosate, are “extraordinarily toxic” and heavily contribute to health problems and disease.
“It’s outrageous that giant corporations like atrazine-maker ChemChina are allowed to profit from billions in sales while contaminating our food and waterways,” said Lori Ann Burd, the Center’s environmental health director. “Our petition offers the new administration a blueprint of common-sense actions it can take right now to decontaminate our pesticide-drenched food supply.” |
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What Trump 2.0 Means for Birds Like Wisdom |
Passed over 100 years ago, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects more than 1,000 bird species from being hunted, captured, killed, or otherwise harmed.
Now the law is back in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. An order by the new Interior secretary would undermine the Act’s enforcement, calling for rescinding a rule that restored protections for birds from preventable killing by oil spills, mining pits, building collisions, and other threats.
That has direct, devastating impacts for animals on the ground — including Wisdom the Laysan albatross, who’s a mother again at the age of 74. Her species is protected under the law, but that’s meaningless if she can be killed or harmed as she tends to her new chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Stay tuned for how you can help the Center’s fight for migratory birds and other wildlife — and in the meantime, learn more and watch a cute video of Wisdom with her latest offspring. |
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New Report Exposes Utility Greed and Energy Injustice |
Millions of U.S. families are struggling to afford skyrocketing electricity bills — while utility executives and shareholders rake in billions at their expense.
According to a new Center report, six major electric utilities netted more than $10 billion in profits in 2024 while worsening energy poverty, fueling climate change, and deepening environmental injustice. The findings are damning: These companies shut off their customers’ power more than 662,000 times in nine months — even though less than 2% of shareholder payouts could’ve prevented all those disconnections. Meanwhile the companies are raising their rates by at least $3.5 billion and planning 22 new fossil fuel projects.
Read our report to learn how lawmakers and regulators can stand up to corporate greed. |
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Revelator: Psychology and Conservation |
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That’s Wild: These Dolphins Pee on Their Heads |
Scent-marking with urine is commonly seen in land animals — dogs do it on their daily walks, for example — but it has rarely been observed among those living in water. A new study of endangered pink river dolphins, or botos, in the Amazon reports that males perform acts of “aerial urination” in which they roll onto their backs and pee upward, with the stream landing near their heads.
Other male dolphins were seen interacting with those pee streams, sticking their snouts into them and sometimes appearing to chase them.
As the study’s lead author Dr. Claryana Araújo-Wang told BBC Wildlife, “We hypothesize that aerial urination helps in advertising male quality in terms of social position or physical condition.” |
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States
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