Center for Biological Diversity
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Endangered Earth
No. 1181, Feb. 23, 2023
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California Spotted Owls Will Finally Win Protection

More than two decades after a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, on Wednesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finally announced it will protect California spotted owls.
These iconic, white-spotted owls make their homes in old-growth forests. Their classic four-note call was once a common melody among the big trees of the Sierra Nevada and Southern California ranges. But logging, climate change and other threats have sent their numbers plummeting.
We first petitioned to protect California spotted owls in 2000, suing (three times) until the Service agreed to move forward in 2020. This will be the last subspecies of spotted owl — one of the few owls with dark eyes — to be protected.
“It took way too long for these endearing birds to be proposed for Endangered Species Act protection,” said Center attorney Justin Augustine. “I urge the Service to move quickly to bring them back from the brink.”

Defend This Atlanta Forest and Stop Cop City

Development of a police-training facility dubbed Cop City threatens one of Atlanta's largest urban wild spaces, the South River Forest.
This forest protects the headwaters of Georgia’s most biodiverse watershed, which supplies drinking water to millions of people downstream. It also provides habitat for more than 175 species — including Michaux's sumac, a rare flowering plant — and has historically harbored a rare, elusive minnow called the Altamaha shiner.
Advocates have been fighting to protect the forest for years. Tragically, last month 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, aka Tortuguita, was killed defending it. The Center has issued a statement in solidarity with forest protectors.
You can help: Sign our petition urging decision-makers to protect the South River Forest and stop Cop City.

State Help Sought for West Coast Orcas

The Center and our allies just filed a petition to protect Southern Resident orcas under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act. In recent years — due to a steep decline in the salmon they eat and high levels of ocean pollution, traffic and noise — there have been too many deaths and not enough births among these beloved, much-watched killer whales.
Only 73 are left on Earth.
“ Southern Resident orcas are icons of the Pacific Northwest,” said Quinn Read, Oregon policy director at the Center. “So it’s time for Oregon to step up and take a lead role in saving these incredible orcas and the Chinook salmon they need to survive.”
Join the fight for orcas and other wildlife with a gift to our Saving Life on Earth Fund.

Minnesota Win Saves Lynx From Strangulation Traps

After a lawsuit by the Center, a federal judge has ordered Minnesota to ban most uses of strangulation snares — which have accidentally killed lynx — in the northeastern part of the state. The state’s lynx population may be as low as 50.
“This is a big win for Minnesota’s Canada lynx and all of us who care about them,” said Collette Adkins, who directs the Center’s Carnivore Conservation program. “Commonsense reform of Minnesota’s trapping program will prevent needless, agonizing deaths for these rare cats, as well as for dogs and other unintended victims.”

18,000 People Spoke Up for Manatees — Thank You

Florida manatees are dying off in record numbers. Luckily people who care are showing up in record numbers, too: We just submitted more than 18,300 letters from Center supporters backing our petition to restore manatees’ full protection.
With pollution destroying their seagrass food, almost 2,000 of these gentle, playful mammals have died of starvation in the past two years. That’s why, last year, we petitioned to up-list them to “endangered” rather than just “threatened” status under the Endangered Species Act.
If you signed on to our petition, thank you .

Calling on the UN to Protect Border Wildlife

This week the Center asked the United Nations to recognize that the U.S. border wall is devastating a Mexican World Heritage area called El Pinacate, cutting an ugly scar through precious Sonoran Desert habitat.
El Pinacate is critical for desert wildlife, including endangered species like Sonoran pronghorn and Sonoyta mud turtles — but the Trump administration built a 30-foot-high wall across its northern boundary. By giving the reserve “in danger” status, the U.N. could direct international support toward restoring cross-border wildlife connectivity.
That would be historic — like our recent success helping tear down a border “wall” in Arizona made of shipping containers. Check out this story on how it happened and the win’s global significance.

Suit Seeks Records on Endangered Species Delays

The Center just sued the White House for refusing to release records on its role in delaying Endangered Species Act protection for a long list of imperiled species.
Most recently it has illegally delayed protection of critical habitat for red knots, salmon-colored shorebirds who make an epic 9,000-mile migration every year — and whose population has been devastated by overharvest of horseshoe crabs, habitat loss, and sea-level rise. We won protection for these birds in 2014, but they still don’t have habitat safeguards.
“Red knots, wolves, grizzly bears and many other beautiful but imperiled species are all suffering from constant regulatory delays,” said Bill Snape, senior counsel at the Center.

Revelator : Ecocide in Ukraine

For Ukrainian activists, saving injured and displaced animals during wartime often means putting their own lives on the line.
Working with local volunteers and shelters, one nonprofit has helped tens of thousands of animals since the war began, providing food, medicine and shelter to thousands more.
Get the whole inspiring story in The Revelator. And if you haven’t yet, sign up for the e-newsletter bringing you each week’s best environmental articles and essays.

That’s Wild: Fish See Themselves in Photos

What do great apes, bottlenose dolphins, elephants, several bird species, and a small fish called the cleaner wrasse have in common? They can all recognize themselves in a mirror.
A new study out of Japan has shown that cleaner wrasses, who happen to be fiercely territorial, can relate directly not only to their mirror images but also to photos. When shown pictures of other fish, they attacked — but not when shown photos of themselves. They were also seemingly angered by pictures of other fishes’ faces on their own bodies.
“This study is the first to demonstrate,” says lead researcher Masanori Kohda, “that fish have an internal sense of self.”

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Center for Biological Diversity
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