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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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House to Take Up Bills Torching Wildlife Protections
A draft discussion bill headed for a hearing with the House Natural Resources Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries Subcommittee on Tuesday is poised to tear apart
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New Bill Would Gut Marine Mammal Protections
Rep. Nicholas Begich (R-AK) introduced a draft bill today that would eviscerate the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the sole federal law protecting marine mammals in
More Sea Otter Press Releases
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Supreme Court Halts Effort to Reinstate Failed “No Otter Zone” in California
The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to review a Ninth Circuit decision that upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s termination of a failed experimental program known as the “No Otter Zone.” The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had determined the program would harm the California sea otter by excluding the animals from their historic range along the Southern California coast.
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Caution Needed Over Latest Survey Results of the Southern Sea Otter Population
According to the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) 2018 spring survey of the southern sea otter population published today, sea otter numbers have declined off the coast of California since peaking in 2016, but the average population count remains above 3,090 for the third consecutive year.
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Court Calls Third Strike on Industry Challenges to Decision to End Failed Otter Translocation and “No Otter Zone” Program
Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld two District Court decisions to end a failed government program known as the “No Otter Zone.” The
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California Sea Otter Fund’s survival in jeopardy
California taxpayers have coughed up a lot of clams for their struggling sea otters over the past four years. Still, the California Sea Otter Fund, a tax check-off program, narrowly missed raising enough money to make the tax form this year.
jcovey@defenders.org
