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Southern Sea Otter on its Back with Tag on its Foot
Olympia, WA

Defenders Offers Reward for Information on Sea Otter Poaching

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that a federally protected sea otter was illegally tortured and killed in February 2025. Both FWS and Defenders
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gray wolf
Washington, D.C.

Assault on Endangered Species Protections Continues with New Bill to Delist Gray Wolves

Defenders of Wildlife is sounding the alarm over the latest congressional attack on gray wolves following the introduction of the Pacific Northwest Gray Wolves Relief
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Solar energy development in the Ivanpah Valley, California
Washington, D.C.

Amendment to Exempt Defense Activity from the ESA Soundly Defeated

Defenders of Wildlife applauds the members of the House of Representatives who voted down a repeat amendment to H.R. 3838, the National Defense Authorization Act

Press Releases

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Alligator Okefenokee NWR
Washington, DC

Okefenokee Swamp and St. Marys River named Among America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2020

American Rivers today named the Okefenokee Swamp and St. Marys River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers®, citing the threat titanium mining would pose to the waterways’ clean water, wetlands and wildlife habitat. American Rivers and its partners called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other permitting agencies to deny any proposals that risk the long-term protection of the Okefenokee Swamp and St. Marys River.
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Florida_Manatee
Washington, DC

Ocklawaha River named among America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2020

American Rivers today named the Ocklawaha River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers®, citing the Rodman Dam as a threat to clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreation.
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Right Whale
Washington, DC

Court: Feds Failing to Protect North Atlantic Right Whales From Lobster Gear Entanglements

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the National Marine Fisheries Service’s authorization and management of the American lobster fishery violates the federal Endangered Species Act. The court held that the agency failed to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales and that its biological opinion on the fishery violated “straightforward” requirements of the Act, putting the whales at greater risk of entanglement.
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Mexican Gray Wolf
Albuquerque

FWS Orders Four Lobos Killed During Lobo Week

Following on the heels of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) recent news of a record annual increase in the wild population of endangered Mexican gray wolves, the agency issued kill orders which created a deadly month in lobo management.
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Manatee resting at Three Sisters Springs
Ocala, FL

Freeing the Ocklawaha River

Between November 2019 and the end of February 2020, those looking over the edge of the Rodman Dam could glimpse a ghostly forest of long-dead cypress trees normally deep beneath the water of the Rodman Reservoir. This haunting sight is a rarity, coming once every few years as the Florida Department of Environmental Protection draws down the reservoir, exposing the historic path of the once-mighty Ocklawaha River.
Senior Vice President, External Affairs
lsheehan@defenders.org
(202) 772-3244
Communications Director
mdewane@defenders.org
(202) 772-0217
Communications Specialist
jcovey@defenders.org
Communications Specialist
jpetrequin@defenders.org
(202) 772-0243