John,
Blue tree monitor lizards aren’t just blue. They’re truly, vibrantly, and rather incredibly blue: a most unusual hue in the animal kingdom. Their unique coloration has made them prized targets in the reptile trade, especially in the United States. Today these colorful lizards are at risk of vanishing from their habitat, which is only on one small island in Indonesia.
For more than a decade, scientists have been ringing alarm bells about the lizards’ decline — while the exotic pet trade has continued to swipe them from their wild habitat and import them to the United States for sale.
Finally, following a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity, in 2024 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stepped up for blue tree monitors. Using its authority under the Endangered Species Act, the agency protected them as endangered on an emergency basis — which bans all trade.
But pet traders aren’t happy, and emergency protection isn’t permanent. Now, after serious pressure from the pet trade industry, the Service is considering backtracking on safeguards instead of finalizing them.
We can’t let that happen.
Tell the Service to immediately protect blue tree monitors as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
