No. 1272, November 21, 2024

Protection Proposed for Giraffes

Thanks to work by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service just proposed listing four species of giraffes under the Endangered Species Act.

We petitioned in 2017, but in 2021, after the Service missed its deadline to decide whether giraffes deserved protection, we were forced to sue to make the agency take action.

With fewer than 69,000 adults in the wild, giraffe populations have dropped almost 40% since the ’80s because of habitat loss, civil unrest, and poaching — not to mention the international trade in their bones, skins, and other trophies.

“These gentle giants are suffering a silent extinction, and Endangered Species Act safeguards will curb U.S. imports of giraffe skins and other body parts,” said the Center’s International Legal Director Tanya Sanerib.

Join Us: Securing a Hopeful Future for Nature

Anti-wildlife forces will soon control all three branches of our federal government. The work ahead will be hard, but we know we can defend the wild.

In a live virtual gathering on Thursday, Dec. 5 at 11 a.m. PST / 2 p.m. EST, Center Executive Director Kierán Suckling will join author, activist, and Center board member Terry Tempest Williams and Senior Scientist Tierra Curry. They’ll talk about how we can transform our values and passion into action to protect wildlife and wild places from the dangerous attacks we know are coming.

Together we can tap into our collective energy and muster the resilience and tenacity we’ll need for the months and years ahead. Our greatest asset is each other and an unwavering love for the other animals and plants that sustain us all.

Sign up now to join us for this important and vital hour to celebrate what unites us — and what will keep us strong as we hold the line for life on Earth.

Center Op-Eds: How to Fight Trump on Climate

Two new columns by Center staffers on the coming fight with President Elect Donald Trump — a climate change denier and fossil fuel cheerleader — just ran in prominent publications.

This is the moment to radically reimagine our politics, says the Center’s Energy Justice Director Jean Su in The New Republic. “The climate movement,” she writes, “has to fully break out of its silo and build real political power with youth, labor, working families, migrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and other rights-based groups.”

In Time Magazine, Center editor Lydia Millet writes that states and local governments must step up, under a hostile and self-destructive federal regime, to make bold progress in phasing out fossil fuels. And not just states: Individuals and communities need to rise up too and fight for science, environmental protection, and a livable future.

We launched our Future for the Wild Fund to curb Trump's assault on species and the climate. Join the fight — give now and your donation will be doubled.

Time’s Almost Up to Help Protect Monarchs

After more than a decade of work by the Center and allies, next month the Fish and Wildlife Service will decide whether monarch butterflies are to get protection under the Endangered Species Act.

These iconic orange-and-black beauties were once common in backyards across the United States. But their eastern population, which winters in Mexico, has fallen by 85% in the past 25 years — while the western group that winters in California has plummeted by a devastating 95% and almost collapsed entirely in 2020.

Your input could help sway the Service to save the species. Sign our petition to propose monarchs for federal protection immediately.

Wolf Defenders ‘Howl’ to Protect Mexican Wolves

Center staff, allies, and supporters recently attended a New Mexico Game Commission meeting on Mexican gray wolves, urging the state to push the recalcitrant Fish and Wildlife Service to adopt science-based management reforms. Those include releasing captive-born wolf families together, letting wolves expand north of the arbitrary barrier of Interstate 40, and making it harder for poachers to find them.

Heartbreakingly, a female lobo — named Hope by schoolchildren — was found dead on Nov. 7 near Williams, Arizona. The reward for information on her killing is $103,000.

Revelator: Return of the Salmon

After years of work to make it happen, salmon have returned to the waters above the recently removed Klamath River dams in the Pacific Northwest — swimming back to places they haven’t reached for more than a century.

What’s next? Find out in The Revelator.

And if you don’t already, subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: A Mummified Saber-Toothed Kitten

In the melting permafrost of Siberia, an exceptionally well-preserved saber-toothed cat was unearthed in 2020, as a newly released report details. The last of the saber-toothed cats went extinct around the end of the last Ice Age; this kitten lived about 37,000 years ago, for about three weeks, and was found complete with surprisingly soft and dark brown fur.

Scientists are still studying the find: Next they’ll explore the mummy’s DNA and take a closer look at the skeleton, muscles, and hair.

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Photo credits: Giraffe by Tanya Sanerib/Center for Biological Diversity; jaguar via Shutterstock, Kierán Suckling courtesy Center for Biological Diversity, Tierra Curry used with permission, Terry Tempest Williams by the American Library Association/Flickr; Lydia Millet used with permission, Jean Su used with permission, and people at the 2023 March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City used with permission; monarch butterfly by Mark Musselman/National Audubon Society; Mexican gray wolf by Jim Clark/USFWS; Chinook salmon courtesy ODFW; sabercat cub illustration by Hodari Nundu.

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