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Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle is on his way home after being released from a cold-stun rehab center.
New Orleans, LA

Defenders Celebrates U.S. Appeals Court Ruling to Protect Imperiled Sea Turtles from Drowning in Fishing Nets

A federal appeals court upheld the rule requiring shrimp trawling vessels to use turtle excluder devices so that sea turtles can avoid getting caught in nets.
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pale gray north atlantic right whale swimming in dark blue ocean with an entangled string wrapped around the top of its head and seen underneath it's lower body
Washington, DC

House Gambles with Survival for North Atlantic Right Whales in Latest Vote to Delay Protections

The House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 9436, a bill that will delay conservation protections for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.
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 Izembek National Wildlife Refuge - Izembek Volcanoe
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

District Court Okays Bulldozing a Road to the Doorstep of Izembek Wilderness

A federal district court in Alaska today allowed construction to begin on a 2.8-mile road segment on KCC lands to connect to a 10.5-mile road within Izembek.

Press Releases

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Great Egret in flight in Okefenokee NWR
Washington, DC

Biden Administration Moves to Protect Migratory Birds, Drops Trump-Era Court Appeal

The Biden administration today formally dropped an appeal of a federal district court ruling that rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to strip protections for birds under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA).
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Agassiz's desert tortoise eating cactus
Sacramento, CA

Biden Administration Halts Trump’s Last-minute Attack to Undo Desert Conservation Plan

In the 11th hour of President Trump’s term, the federal administration announced a rollback to upend key conservation protections afforded to public lands in the California Desert Conservation Area by the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) adopted by the federal government and the State of California in 2016.
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Right Whale
St. Augustine, FL

Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whale Calf Killed off Florida Coast

A brand-new male North Atlantic right whale calf was discovered dead yesterday on a beach at Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine, Florida.
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Polar bears
Anchorage, AK

Emergency court order stops ConocoPhillips from moving forward on destructive Willow project

Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, Defenders of Wildlife and four additional groups applaud a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling yesterday that stops ConocoPhillips from doing winter road construction, gravel mining, and blasting on its Willow project in the western Arctic, on federal lands in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, while the court decides an appeal in the case.
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Williamson’s Sapsucker on a branch
Washington, DC

Legislation Introduced to Establish one of the Nation’s Largest Urban Wildlife Refuges

A recent report finds that California lost more than 1 million acres of natural area between 2001 and 2017 due to urban development, greatly affecting
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
Communications Specialist
estern@defenders.org
202-772-0243