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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Memo Underscores Trump Administration’s All-Fronts War on Wildlife
Brian Nesvik, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, issued a memorandum explaining to FWS staff that the Endangered Species Act’s prohibition on unauthorized “take” applies only to affirmative acts intentionally and purposefully directed at a particular animal. This follows the Trump administration’s rescission of the regulatory definitions of “harm” under the ESA, which took effect this week.
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Court Rules Habitat Must Be Protected After FWS Attempts to Waive Protections for Less Than 40 Sierra Nevada Red Fox
Defenders of Wildlife earned a significant victory for the Endangered Species Act today when a federal district court found that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to not designate critical habitat for the endangered Sierra Nevada red fox was a violation of the law.
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Construction on Gateway to Road through Izembek Continues
The Ninth Circuit today denied Defenders of Wildlife’s emergency motion to halt construction on King Cove Corp.’s 2.8-mile road segment leading to the doorstep of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and Wilderness. Defenders’ request for immediate injunctive relief marks the latest stage in its larger effort to block a damaging and precedent-setting road from King Cove to Cold Bay, Alaska, that would plow through the heart of Izembek.
Press Releases
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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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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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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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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.
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Congress Urged to Boost Funding for Endangered Species Conservation by $300 Million
More than 170 groups today urged Congress to significantly increase the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s budget for endangered species conservation from $291.7 million to
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