No. 1312, August 28, 2025

Tell Secretary Burgum: Don’t Kill Another Mexican Wolf 

On behalf of the livestock industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture just shot and killed a 3-month-old wolf pup in New Mexico. In April it executed the mom of the Bear Canyon pack in Arizona, even though she was probably pregnant.  

The recovery of endangered Mexican gray wolves hangs in the balance, largely due to a lack of genetic diversity. Some of these wolves are already suffering the effects of inbreeding, including paw deformities and fewer pups being born or surviving. The Bear Canyon mom was genetically valuable, less closely related to her fellow wolves than most of the other 300 or so in the Southwest.   

Soon her son, in the prime of life, will be gunned down from the air unless Interior Secretary Doug Burgum grants him a reprieve. This wolf has a new mate and could pass on his mother’s precious genes — but only if he lives. 

Tell Burgum to immediately cancel this unique wolf’s kill order and help Mexican wolves survive.

Milestone Win: Judge Halts Everglades Detention Center 

Thanks to a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Everglades, and the Miccosukee Tribe, a federal judge has ordered Florida and the Trump administration to stop construction of the mass detention center in Big Cypress National Preserve known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”  

“This is a huge relief for millions of people who love the Everglades,” said the Center’s Elise Bennett. “The brutal detention center was burning a hole in the fabric of life that supports our most iconic wetland and a whole host of endangered species, from majestic Florida panthers to wizened wood storks.” 

Now the facility must stop adding detainees and wind down operations within 60 days. The judge’s order will stay in place while we move forward with our lawsuit. We aim to make the federal government do a thorough environmental review of the project’s harms, which will show that cages don’t belong in the Everglades. 

In the meantime, you can help by speaking out against this cruel, illegal undertaking.

Trump Administration Moves to Kill Roadless Rule 

On Wednesday the Trump administration announced it plans to nix the landmark 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. That would open nearly 45 million acres of wild, unfragmented national forests to road construction, logging, and other development — polluting drinking water, boosting wildfire risk, and threatening more than 500 imperiled species, from spotted owls to grizzly bears. 

“This would be the single largest evisceration of public-land protections in American history,” said the Center’s Randi Spivak.  

We’ll fight hard to make sure the proposal isn’t finalized — and you can help with a gift to our Future for the Wild Fund. 

Keep an eye on your inbox to add your voice during the brief, crucial comment period.

Federal Program Must Rely Less on Pesticides

To control grasshoppers and Mormon crickets where livestock graze, for years a federal agency called the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (aka APHIS) has used toxic insecticides as a blanket solution across millions of acres of federal lands in 17 western states. Besides massacring important insects like bumblebees, butterflies, and native grasshoppers, this “spray first, ask questions later” approach has hurt whole ecosystems. 

So the Center and allies sued — and last week we prevailed when a federal judge confirmed APHIS’s legal duty to include alternatives to chemical insect-killers in its grasshopper program, as well as to be more transparent about pesticide spraying on public lands. It’s a major win for the exceptional biodiversity of the U.S. West.  

Some chemicals in the program, like organophosphates, are so dangerous that other countries have wisely banned them. Tell the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to follow suit. 

Help for Butterflies, Foxes, and Lizards 

Quino checkerspot butterflies are now candidates for California protection, meaning they’ll get immediate state safeguards as biologists do a full-scale review. Known for their red, black, and cream-colored checkered wings, these butterflies have been hit hard by sprawl development, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and border wall construction. The Center and allies petitioned for them last year. 

Also in response to a Center petition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has decided to take a closer look at whether southern Cascades Sierra Nevada red foxes need federal protection. These beautiful foxes once ranged throughout high-elevation areas of the Cascades but have disappeared from much of their range, including Mt. Shasta. They’re threatened by climate change and habitat loss caused by fires, logging, livestock grazing, and development. 

Overseas yet another Center Endangered Species Act petition has paid off. The Service just proposed protection for extremely rare earless monitor lizards, who live in Borneo. They’re known for their dragon-like appearance, translucent eyelids, and characteristic lack of external ear openings.  

Revelator: Hedgehogs’ Hidden World 

People rarely see hedgehogs, who are shy and nocturnal ... and increasingly vulnerable to extinction. But one UK university has captured their presence via inky footprints and wildlife cameras.  

Head to The Revelator to find out how researchers help these seldom-seen nocturnal mammals — and how hedgehogs see sthe human world. 

And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to The Revelator’s free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news. 

That’s Wild: An Adopted Goose 

Families come in all shapes and sizes — and sometimes species. 

In Madison, Wisconsin, a pair of sandhill cranes has apparently adopted a baby Canada goose, and they’re raising it as their own. This kind of cross-species adoption has only been documented a few times, including in 2011 when a goose was spotted living and behaving like a crane in Alaska. 

Perhaps it’s no surprise. Sandhill cranes and Canada geese are both highly adaptive species well-equipped to move through a variety of environments, including urban areas. 

Watch a heartwarming video of one of the parents with the adopted gosling and a baby crane (called a colt for their long legs). 

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Photo credits: Mexican gray wolf by EWCSTL/Wikimedia; wood stork by Peterwchen/Wikimedia, Florida panther by Rodney Cammauf/NPS; northern spotted owl fledgling by Zia Fukuda/BLM; monarch butterfly by Colin Rose/Wikimedia; earless monitor lizard by Chien C. Lee/Wild Borneo Photography (via Wikimedia), Sierra Nevada red fox by Kevin Slausen/USFS, Quino-checkerspot butterfly by Andrew Fisher/USFWS; hedgehog by Colin Haycock; Canada goose gosling by Alan D. Wilson/Nature's Pics Online.

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