No. 378, December 22, 2006

 

WELCOME NEW RINGTONE MEMBERS

   
  COMEBACK KID #9: WHOOPING CRANE
   
  MERRY CHRISTMAS: FREE ENDANGERED SPECIES RINGTONES
   
  ORCA SAVED FROM INDUSTRY GRINCH
   
  POLAR BEAR PROTECTION DECISION DUE ANY DAY
   
  ATLANTIC WHITE MARLIN MOVES CLOSER TO PROTECTION
   
  SUIT FILED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SEA OTTERS
   
  SEATTLE POST OpEd: BUSH APPOINTEE SHOULD BE FIRED
   
  CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT WORKING

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WELCOME NEW RINGTONE MEMBERS

Welcome to the several thousand people who have joined the weekly Endangered Earth newsletter by downloading free endangered species ringtones! I try to keep the news short, though unfortunately it's not always sweet. You can unsubscribe as per the directions at the end of the newsletter. But we hope your love of wildlife and interest in saving them will keep you around. The newsletter is an easy way to keep informed and get involved.

Kieran Suckling
Policy Director
Center for Biological Diversity


COMEBACK KID #9: WHOOPING CRANE

The Houston Chronicle reports that Whooping Crane numbers have reached their highest point in the last 100 years. The elegant bird declined precipitously in the late 1800s and early 1900s due to hunting and habitat loss. When listed as an endangered species in 1967, there were just 48 wild and six captive birds. By 2006, the population rose to 515. The recovery target is 5,000 birds. See the Center for Biological Diversity’s account of this and 100 other Endangered Species Act success stories at www.esasuccess.org.


MERRY CHRISTMAS: FREE ENDANGERED SPECIES RINGTONES

The Seattle Post says “it’s so geeky, it’s gotta be cool,” Personal Democracy Forum says they’re “creating a lot of buzz, chirps and howls” and the Contra Costa Times calls them “politically correct cell phone ringtones.” The Center for Biological Diversity is offering free endangered species ringtones. Just go to www.rareearthtones.com and choose from 40 actual recordings of animals including the Orca, Spotted Owl, Oregon Spotted Frog, Beluga Whale, Houston Toad, Boreal Owl, and Blue-throated Macaw. The ringtones will be sent directly to your cell phone.

Thousands of people have already downloaded the tones: Thanks to my wife, my mother’s calls now trigger the screech of the Barn Owl – a little disturbing. The Web site also has information about the threats facing each species and ways you can help them. Download yours and pass this message on to your friends, relatives and in-laws. It’s a perfect and free Christmas gift.


ORCA SAVED FROM INDUSTRY GRINCH

Those of you who downloaded the Orca ringtone can rest a bit easier tonight: We just won a legal battle to stop an industry lawsuit seeking to remove Puget Sound’s “southern resident” population of Orcas from the federal endangered species list. The Orca was protected in 2005, due to a 2001 scientific petition written by the Center for Biological Diversity and subsequent lawsuits by the Center and a large coalition of environmental groups. Last month, 2,500 square miles of Puget Sound, Haro Strait and the Strait of Juan de Fuca were protected as critical habitat for the population.

In their usual “the-sky-is-falling” tizzy, industry groups sued the government to take the Orca off the endangered species list and remove its habitat protections. The Center, Earthjustice and other groups intervened in the case, and on Dec. 20, the judge agreed with us declaring that the industry groups “totally failed to provide any evidence” of being harmed by Orca protections. The case was thrown out of court.


POLAR BEAR PROTECTION DECISION DUE ANY DAY

We don’t have a Polar Bear ringtone yet, but the Center for Biological Diversity’s campaign to save the Polar Bear from extinction will reach a milestone in a few days: the Bush administration will make a decision by Dec. 27 on whether it will issue a formal proposal to place the Polar Bear on the federal endangered species list. The Center, Natural Resources Defense Council and Greenpeace have been conducting scientific research, filing petitions and lawsuits, and working the phones to ensure the decision is positive.

The science is very clear that the Polar Bear’s sea-ice habitat is melting away due to global warming. Polar Bears are drowning in larger numbers than ever seen before. More cubs are dying. Adults are smaller due to lack of food, and some are even resorting to cannibalization. It’s essential that the federal government act now to save them.


ATLANTIC WHITE MARLIN MOVES CLOSER TO PROTECTION

Ninety percent of the world’s large predatory fish have declined due to overfishing. One of the most imperiled is the Atlantic White Marlin, which is under assault by the longline and purse seining fishing industries. Despite the conclusion of its own scientists that the fishing level is unsustainable, the Bush administration refused to place the White Marlin on the federal endangered species list. The Center for Biological Diversity and Sea Turtle Restoration Network sued and in 2005 reached an agreement requiring the government to reassess whether it needed to consider the marlin for Endangered Species Act protection. On Dec. 21, the government completed the reassessment and announced it will proceed with a full Endangered Species Act status review.


SUIT FILED TO PROTECT ENDANGERED SEA OTTERS

The Washington Post reports that the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit on Dec. 19 against the Bush administration for failing to designate and protect specific areas of critical habitat for the endangered Alaskan Sea Otter. Due to a Center scientific petition and lawsuit, Sea Otters in the Aleutian Islands and Southwest Alaska were listed as endangered species in 2005. The administration has resisted protecting the otter’s habitat even though scientific studies show that species with critical habitat are twice as likely to be recovering as species without it.

Meanwhile, it has proposed opening up areas in the Bering Sea to offshore oil development and is considering lifting the presidential ban on oil drilling in Bristol Bay. Sea Otters are extremely vulnerable to oil spills. As many as a thousand Sea Otters died from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, while more recently, the Selendang Ayu oil spill in the Aleutian Islands in December 2004 killed numerous otters from this highly endangered population.


SEATTLE POST OpEd: BUSH APPOINTEE SHOULD BE FIRED

Last week I reported on Noah Greenwald’s OpEd in the Denver Rocky Mountain News answering a Bush appointee’s challenge to prove that she overruled government scientists seeking to protect endangered species. This week the Center for Biological Diversity’s conservation biologist published an OpEd in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer giving additional examples of how Julie MacDonald and other high level Bush administration appointees are waging war against science and scientists. In this OpEd he calls for MacDonald’s firing and congressional investigations into the systematic abuse of science by the Bush administration.


CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT WORKING

On Dec. 21, the Christian Science Monitor editorialized about the sad extinction of the Baiji, a freshwater dolphin, in China's Yangtze River. It called on other nations to adopt legislation similar to the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which it termed the “toughest protection law in the world.” Citing research by the Center for Biological Diversity, it explained that 85 percent of plants and animals on the U.S. endangered species list have increased or remained stable since being listed. Wolves, Bald Eagles, and Grizzly Bears are just a few of the beneficiaries.


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