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Bobcat
Washington, D.C.

Defenders of Wildlife Partners with Rep. Don Beyer on Monumental Corridors Act

Defenders of Wildlife today celebrated the introduction of the Wildlife Corridors and Habitat Connectivity Conservation Act of 2026, a landmark bill that would establish a national framework for identifying, designating and protecting wildlife corridors across the country.
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Wild Red Wolf
Washington, D.C.

House Leadership Pulls Historic Vote Following Intense Public Pressure

The GOP Leadership in the House of Representatives today pulled its scheduled vote on Rep. Bruce Westerman’s (R-AR) ESA Amendments Act of 2025 — more aptly called the Extinction Act.
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Public Domain
Washington, D.C.

House to Vote on Gutting Bedrock Endangered Species Act

As the nation celebrates Earth Day this week, the House of Representatives will cast an historic vote on a bill to eviscerate the Endangered Species Act, which was enacted more than 50 years ago to protect America’s wildlife from extinction.

Press Releases

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Solar arrays in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
Washington, DC

Chesapeake Bay Restoration, Conservation to Benefit from New Approach to Data Mapping

Defenders of Wildlife and Chesapeake Conservancy have made a dataset available for the first time that will benefit the restoration and conservation of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and will have implications far beyond.
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Horseshoe Crabs - Charles River Bleeding
Cape Romain, SC

Conservation Organizations File Motion to Suspend Horseshoe Crab Harvest

Today, conservation groups asked a federal district court judge to halt a planned blood harvest of thousands of horseshoe crabs in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, arguing the annual harvest violates multiple landmark conservation laws.
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New Mexico landscape
Washington, DC

Pattern Energy Makes Significant Contribution to Protect New Mexico’s Imperiled Bird Species

Pattern Energy, an independent renewable energy company, entered into an agreement to fund extensive new research by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies to study birds associated with piñon-juniper woodlands in New Mexico. Pattern Energy’s $80,000 contribution will support scientific monitoring of the potential impacts from management activities on the pinyon jay and other declining birds associated with piñon-juniper woodlands.
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Ocelot kitten walking in bushes
Los Fresnos, Tex.

New Wild Ocelot Kitten Photographed in Texas

This week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced a new ocelot kitten in the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. This news, announced on the refuge’s Facebook page, is encouraging news for a species on the brink of extinction in the U.S. But the population remains at risk without sustained efforts to protect this wild cat and its habitat.
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Northern Long-eared Bat
Washington, DC

Court Orders U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Determine Whether Northern Long-eared Bat Warrants Listing as Endangered Species

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether the northern long-eared bat warrants listing as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act by December 2022 after remanding the Service’s flawed threatened listing last year.
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
kirby@defenders.org
(202) 772-3268