Hi John,

Hiding in a bush, a trophy hunter takes aim at an imperiled leopard, killing the beautiful creature for thrills and to hang its body on a wall.

In the wake of the killing, another male leopard moves in, killing the first one's kittens and laying claim to the females in his new territory. It's not just a single leopard who dies when a trophy is taken — often it's many.

Now leopards are disappearing, with the sub-Saharan African population down by nearly one third.

So today we launched a lawsuit to give leopards more protection.

You can help with a gift to the Saving Life on Earth Fund. All donations will be matched.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature says leopards face a high risk of extinction in the wild.

While leopards in parts of Africa are protected as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is four years late in making a decision on whether to give them the higher level of protection they desperately need.

That's why we're suing to enforce the Act and get leopards the protection they deserve — so that fewer of them end up as American rugs or wall hangings.

Either leopards should be fully protected under the Act or the rule that allows them to be imported as trophies without an Endangered Species permit should be eliminated.

These beautiful animals should not be turned into living room décor for those who travel overseas to shoot at imperiled species. The Endangered Species Act can do more to help keep them safer in the wild.

Our fight for leopards takes aim at the needless, cruel killing of wildlife. And it also prods those responsible for protecting wildlife to move with greater urgency — before it's too late.

Too many species are waiting for the vital protection that can keep them from going extinct. Extinction is preventable — and we're prepared to go to court to keep each species, large or small, from vanishing.

We can save leopards and wildlife hovering on the brink, but we need you with us.

Please help by making a matched gift today to the Saving Life on Earth Fund.

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For the wild,

Kierán Suckling
Executive Director
Center for Biological Diversity

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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States