John,
On September 7 of this year, roughly half of the existing population of Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits were wiped out as Washington’s Pearl Hill and Cold Springs fires, fueled by hurricane-force winds, swept over 60 linear miles in less than 24 hours. At such speed, there was practically no chance of rescuing these small and unique creatures.
In so many ways, this has not been a normal year. But we need your help to support the species that are threatened and recovery of their habitats to ensure climate-fueled natural disasters like these don’t become our new normal.
Please make a matched gift before our critical December 31 deadline. Your gift will promote essential conservation programs to help wildlife like the pygmy rabbit recover from natural disasters and support restoration of resilient, wildlife-friendly ecosystems.
In 2001, scientists brought into captivity 16 of the last wild Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits as part of a decades-long endangered species recovery and reintroduction effort. Through dedicated work by conservationists, wild pygmy rabbit populations increased with the species coming back from the brink of extinction.
About the size of a grapefruit, North America’s smallest rabbit relies on intact sagebrush steppe habitat in central Washington. They have shown that they can rebound, but they need room to grow and a home to call their own. Without vital land like sagebrush, these small rabbits fight an uphill battle.
John, will you give a matched gift before our December 31 deadline to help species at risk of harm from devastating wildfires and other climate-change fueled disasters?
According to congressional research, nearly 53,000 wildfires have burned over 9.5 million acres this year. “Megafires”—larger, hotter, and more frequent than ever are destroying wildlife habitats and releasing alarming quantities of carbon into the atmosphere, setting up a vicious cycle that feeds and worsens the impacts of climate change.
John, we need your help and your matched gift to ensure that we can fund current and future programs that work to protect endangered, vulnerable, and at-risk wildlife from climate-fueled disasters.
Your contribution TODAY will bolster our efforts to expand on-the-ground wildlife disaster recovery efforts, support our advocacy programs for resilient landscapes, and increase our ability to press for dramatic reductions in climate-altering carbon emissions.
Please, time is running out. Will you double your impact now and make sure we reach our critical goal before midnight on December 31?
Thank you for your continued generosity. I hope that we can count on you during this essential time of year.
