Legal Victories for Seals, Squirrels, and Black Rails |
Arctic ringed seals are keeping their Endangered Species Act safeguards, thanks to our intervention in a lawsuit seeking to strip them of their protected status. The Center for Biological Diversity first petitioned to protect these ice-loving seals in 2008, winning their place on the threatened species list in 2012. Since then, the state of Alaska and its oil-industry cronies have been trying to kick them off the list to make way for more oil and gas development in their habitat. But we stepped in, and the seals are safer for it.
Meanwhile in Arizona, a federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to make a long-overdue decision about whether to expand protected habitat for highly endangered Mount Graham red squirrels. There were just 233 left in the wild at last count. For years, the Center and allies have urged the feds to expand the squirrels’ critical habitat to include lower-elevation forests where they’re currently living.
And in a major victory for one of America’s most imperiled marsh birds, a federal court just sided with the Center and allies by striking down the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s refusal to designate critical habitat for eastern black rails in Gulf Coast states. The birds, protected in 2020 after a decade-long fight by the Center, have lost more than 90% of their historical range because of wetland destruction and degradation.
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Lawsuits Seek Full Transparency on Trump Rollbacks |
On Tuesday we sued to force the Trump administration to release public records on a proposed rollback of federal protections for marine wildlife habitat — including any political or industry influences involved. The proposal would revoke the longstanding definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act, eliminating habitat protections even though habitat destruction is a key extinction driver. Threats to marine species’ homes run the gamut — from warming ocean waters to offshore oil drilling to massive ships speeding through whales’ breeding grounds. (We filed a separate suit last month to make the administration release records on this rollback as it affects nonmarine species.)
And last week the Center sued the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to find out which environmental rules have been targeted by Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. We need full transparency on each and every attempt to greenlight more pollution, bulldoze public lands, and drive species extinct.
Help the Center's fight with a gift to our Future for the Wild Fund now. |
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UNESCO Approves Crucial Global Wildlife Protections |
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee — which manages World Heritage sites designated under the World Heritage Convention — has just approved several actions aligned with Center petitions to save some of the planet’s most imperiled wild places and species.
In Mexico, one action defends wildlife corridors along the U.S.-Mexico border, while another keeps the Gulf of California on the World Heritage List to help protect critically endangered vaquita porpoises. Another action presses Mexico to enlarge the Monarch Butterfly Reserve, finish an overdue reserve management plan, and curb illegal logging and avocado-farming expansion that harms monarch butterflies. Learn more about the committee’s decisions. Then take action for monarchs in Mexico: Urge U.S. grocery chains to enact zero-deforestation avocado policies. |
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Five Coral Species Win Habitat Protection |
Following years of Center advocacy (and tens of thousands of supporter comments), NOAA Fisheries has announced final critical habitat designations for five Indo-Pacific coral species: Acropora globiceps, Acropora retusa, Acropora speciosa, Fimbriaphyllia paradivisa, and Isopora crateriformis.
NOAA Fisheries listed the species as “threatened” in 2014 but didn’t enact protections — including habitat protections — as the Endangered Species Act requires. So we sued in 2023. “Protecting corals’ homes is a crucial step toward reversing the crisis of reef die-offs,” said Center attorney David Derrick. |
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Revelator: Avoiding AI in Search Results |
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Center Staff Essay: Hellbenders as Emissaries |
What do salamanders have to do with environmental justice? Everything, says the Center’s Tierra Curry in a new Critical Humanities essay all about the fascinating natural history of hellbenders and the Center’s long campaign to protect them. Tierra grew up exploring a creek that was later ravaged by coal pollution, which inspired her career fighting the extinction crisis — for the sake of hellbenders and humans alike.
“The health of human communities cannot be disentangled from the condition of the wild networks we dwell in,” she writes. |
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That’s Wild: Orcas’ Friendly Gestures |
You know how cats sometimes leave a bit of prey at your feet or front door? Well, orcas have just been found doing something similar. Scientists say that for the first time they’ve documented killer whales in the wild offering to share their food with people, suggesting that these sea-going giants may be trying to make a connection with us.
The new study documents 34 incidents where orcas tried to offer dead birds, seals, and other food to humans in places like California, New Zealand, Norway, and Patagonia. Thanks very much, kind orcas.
Check out this scientist’s explanation on YouTube. |
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