Wolf Weekly Wrap Up

Standing up for the red wolf: Conservation advocates and Democrats in the House Natural Resources Committee implored Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to update the red wolf recovery plan, which has remained stagnant for over 20 years, and ensure that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service does not turn its back on this critically endangered species. Fewer than 45 red wolves remain in the wild and their time is running out. Defenders of Wildlife recently won a preliminary injunction that prevents any more red wolves from being removed from the wild, but the fight is far from over for South’s native wolf.


California releases new conservation plan: There used to be a time when the return of gray wolves in California seemed nearly improbable. Now, five years after OR-7 journeyed here from northeastern Oregon, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has released a final state conservation plan that will guide the management of the wolves into the future. This plan is a roadmap for the future of wolves in California, a major milestone for wolf recovery in the West and quite possibly the best state wolf management plan yet. But there is still more the state can do to ensure wolves’ safe passage across the landscape. We look forward to working with CDFW and all of our partners to implement this plan and to provide proactive tools and coexistence strategies to minimize conflicts and share the landscape peacefully with wolves.

Trump Picks Hard-right, Anti-wolf Politician. Why Trump's pick matters for wildlife. Can you imagine Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) – a woman who has fought tooth and nail to delist wolves in the Northern Rockies – overseeing the decisions made to protect all of America's wildlife?
Flexing to Fight Trump, We Need Your Help
Or Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), a former oil company executive who has never met an environmental protection law that he liked in charge of protecting our natural lands?
These are the types of people that President-elect Trump is considering putting in charge of the Department of the Interior, the agency that manages 75% of our nation's public lands and oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's endangered species program.
In the coming days, the Trump Administration is expected to announce who they've chosen for this critical position. It's perhaps the most crucial decision for wildlife this year – and with early considerations like these, we don't expect it will be a good one.
A somber reality is settling in for endangered species like Mexican gray wolves, manatees and panthers: anti-wildlife politicians will soon control the White House, Congress and the Department of the Interior.
Consider the threat of an Interior Department friendlier to Big Oil and other business interests than to wildlife:
  • Attempts to undermine and re-write the Endangered Species Act, eliminating critical protections for imperiled animals across the country.
  • Climate change deniers will gain more power in high-level positions, allowing oil and gas development to surge onto our public lands, further threatening wildlife like polar bears in the Arctic.
  • And the existing environmental and wildlife protection laws you and I have fought for will be at risk – so Defenders will need to turn to the courts to ensure current protections for vulnerable wildlife and habitats are maintained.
Defenders has been on the front lines of wildlife protection battles for nearly 70 years. And today, America's wildlife needs us more than ever.
We must be ready to mobilize supporters nationwide to oppose these extreme anti-wildlife choices. 
In 2O11, gray wolves across the American Rockies were stripped of their protections under the Endangered Species Act, and as a result, they have experienced steep population decline.[1]
Today, it’s estimated there are less than 2O,OOO wolves left.[2]
 By removing these protections, we are driving wolves straight into extinction.
Wolves are highly intelligent and stunningly gifted hunters that are an integral part of our nation’s history and the landscape of North America.
But Congress wants to remove all remaining protections for the gray wolf -- virtually paving the way to their extinction.
We can’t sit on the sidelines and watch as these incredible animals die because of our inaction.
Wolves are counting on your support. Please take our poll before it’s too late: http://go.saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/Save-Wolves-Poll
Trump is expected today to name hard-right Washington state Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers to the most important enviromental position in the United States: secretary of the Interior. Like the rest of Trump's appointees, Rodgers denies global warming and is heavily funded by oil, gas and coal companies. She also led wolf-killing legislation, fought against endangered salmon recovery, and tried to sell 3.3 million acres of pristine public land to developers, loggers and miners.

Rodgers is a disaster. Worst-case scenario.

Please help the Center for Biological Diversity block her confirmation and stop Trump's onslaught by donating today to our emergency Trump Resistance Fund. Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar.

The secretary of the Interior oversees all of America's endangered species. Yet Rodgers' entire career has been devoted to killing endangered species and destroying their habitat. She pressed to kill endangered wolves on sight and allow energy companies to kill endangered salmon by the thousands -- all while taking a small fortune in campaign contributions from timber, mining, oil and gas industries.

The secretary of the Interior oversees hundreds of millions of acres of public land, including all our national parks and wildlife refuges. Yet Rodgers has built her extreme right-wing reputation by trying to give or sell off public lands to the highest bidder. It's no wonder she holds a rock-bottom 4 percent rating on the National Environmental Scorecard.

To gird us for the coming fight against Rodgers and the rest of Trump's cabinet of corporate raiders, two generous donors quadrupled their giving to $450,000 and set up the emergency Trump Resistance Fund. They will match -- dollar for dollar -- your donation to the fund, so please give as generously as you can.

Stopping the Trump juggernaut's extreme agenda is the Center's overriding priority. To succeed we need to quickly expand our team of effective, hard-hitting lawyers, investigators and coalition-builders.

Our lawyers will sue Trump when he tries to roll back clean-water protections, green-light the killing of endangered species, open the Arctic and Atlantic coasts to offshore oil drilling, or try to turn our public lands into a sea of oil wells and clearcuts.

Our investigators will expose the revolving door between Trump's administration and the chemical, oil and mining industries. They'll relentlessly daylight his political appointees' lies and overruling of agency scientists.

Our coalition-builders will create a powerful alliance of environmental, human-health and civil-rights groups to stand together against Trump.

We need to raise $1 million to make this happen. $450,000 is already pledged, but we'll meet our goal only if our members come forward with an additional $550,000 in donations to the emergency Trump Resistance Fund. Please donate as generously as you can today.

With your help the Center for Biological Diversity will stop Trump, his terrible appointments and his dangerous agenda. We'll build the only wall America really needs: a wall between Trump and our environment.