No. 1304, July 3, 2025

Stop the Aerial Gunning of Alaska Bears

Alaska wildlife managers are once again proposing to shoot and kill bears from helicopters — for no good reason.

In a misguided effort to help declining caribou herds in western Alaska, for years the state has gunned down brown bears (and killed wolves and black bears too) as part of its predator control program. But even after the state killed almost 200 bears over the last three years, the area’s Mulchatna caribou herd has shown no signs of recovery. That's because disease and lack of food — not predation — are causing the herd's decline.

Killing more bears won't make things better for caribou. But it will harm these cherished animals, ruin recreation opportunities for wildlife lovers, and waste state money.

Stand up for bears: Tell the Alaska Board of Game to reject this senseless plan to shoot them down.

Public Lands Sell-Off Nixed — But the Fight Goes On

Caving to massive outrage by the public — including tens of thousands of Center supporters — Sen. Mike Lee announced last weekend that he pulled his provision for a huge sell-off of U.S. public lands from the Republican budget bill.

Lands at risk included popular recreation areas, hunting and fishing spots, culturally sensitive areas, public water sources, nearly 100,000 miles of trails, and habitat for species like sage grouse and grizzly bears.

This is a crucial win for the wild, but Congress is close to passing the budget bill — and it’s still a massive giveaway to polluting, extractive industries.

“From the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico and everywhere in between, many of the wild and one-of-a-kind places Americans cherish will be destroyed,” said the Center’s Stephanie Kurose.

There’s a long fight ahead. Give to our Future for the Wild Fund now to help.

Suing to Save the Everglades From ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

The Center for Biological Diversity and allies just sued the Trump administration to protect the iconic Florida Everglades from a reckless plan to create a massive detention center in the middle of Big Cypress National Preserve to confine up to 3,000 people rounded up in immigration raids.

The plan for the cruelly named “Alligator Alcatraz” has gone through no environmental review, which is particularly galling because the Everglades is a global environmental treasure, important habitat for endangered Florida panthers, and the most significant breeding ground for wading birds in North America.

You can help: Tell the Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, and Florida’s governor to stand up for the Everglades and stop this facility now.

Legal Gains for Darters, Newts, Salmon

In response to decades of advocacy by the Center, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finally proposed to protect Barrens darters, one of North America’s most imperiled fish species. Two of its last seven populations have already disappeared, and the five that remain survive in roughly 6 miles of streams.

In the Northwest, we and our allies just won a court order requiring NOAA Fisheries to decide by November whether spring-run Chinook salmon in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act. Protecting these salmon will also help endangered Southern Resident orcas, who eat the fish.

And after legal action by the Center in Florida and Georgia, the Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to consider federal protection for striped newts. These salamanders live in the longleaf pine ecosystem, which once covered 92 million acres in the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions. Some 97% of longleaf pine has been lost to logging and fire suppression.

Students Name Mexican Wolf Pups Slated for Release

Asha is a wild-born Mexican gray wolf who twice crossed north of the Southwest’s Interstate 40, entering territory where wildlife officials didn't want her to go. So they caught and paired her with a captive-born male named Arcadia, hoping she'd have pups who'd keep her from wandering again.

This spring the wolf pair welcomed five adorable puppies born in captivity, whom K-12 students have named Kachina, Aspen, Sage, Kai, and Aala. Kachina is named after the Hopi wolf spirit, “Kai” means willow in the Diné language, and “Aala” means “she who hunts and heals.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service said it will soon release the whole family into the New Mexico wild — hopefully boosting the wild population’s genetic diversity.

Watch Mexican wolves frolic on Instagram.

The Revelator: Saving Civets

Civets are small, enigmatic, slender-bodied carnivores related to mongooses and weasels. One of the world’s rarest civet species, Owston’s civets, are threatened by the world’s most expensive coffee.

Read more in The Revelator’s latest Save This Species feature.

And if you've worked to study or protect endangered wildlife, you’re invited to share your story in your own Save This Species article.

That’s Wild: Barfing Spiders

Many spiders rely on injecting venom into their prey from little openings in their fangs. But a new study finds that one common spider, the feather-legged lace weaver (Uloborus plumipes), has a more novel approach to subduing its next meal: vomiting all over it.

The upchucked toxins, applied after the victim has been wrapped in silk, are apparently just as lethal as other spiders’ venom.

You could even say this spider’s barf is worse than its bite.

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Photo credits: Kodiak brown bear family by Lisa Hupp/USFWS; sage grouse by Larry Lamsa/USFWS, grizzly bear courtesy USFWS; Florida panther by Larry Richardson/USFWS; striped newt by Kevin Enge; screenshot of Mexican wolf pup video courtesy of USFWS; Owston's civet courtesy Shaldon Zoo; feather-legged spider by RudiSteenkamp/Wikimedia Commons.

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