No. 1237, March 21, 2024

Court Halts Wolf Trapping in Grizzly Bear Habitat

Ruling on a suit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, a federal judge found Tuesday that Idaho’s wolf-trapping rules break the law because wolf traps can also hurt — and even kill — grizzly bears, who are protected under the Endangered Species Act. The ruling effectively bans wolf trapping and snaring in all Idaho grizzly habitat throughout spring, summer and fall.

“This is such a relief for everyone who cares about grizzlies and wolves,” said Collette Adkins, director of our Carnivore Conservation program. “The court recognized that trapping’s just not legal when it can cause agonizing pain and injury to endangered animals.”

Help the Center’s fight for wolves, grizzlies, and other persecuted predators with a gift to our Saving Life on Earth Fund.

Toxic Plan for Grand Canyon Area Nixed

Responding to criticism from the Center and other conservation groups, a federal agency has cancelled its plan to spray toxic insecticides within cherished, culturally important landscapes on northern Arizona’s Colorado Plateau.

Aimed at killing native grasshoppers, the poisons could have been sprayed inside portions of three national monuments: Vermilion Cliffs, Grand Canyon-Parashant, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon.

“This a good start,” said Taylor McKinnon, our Southwest director. “But given the far-reaching threats insecticides pose to wildlife and wild places, federal officials shouldn’t use them to target native species on any of our treasured public lands.”

Did you know many pesticides are still allowed throughout the national wildlife refuge system? Take action to get them out.

Lawsuit Filed to Protect Rare Snails

The Center has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protection for Arkansas mudalia snails, rare freshwater invertebrates found in just a few places in Arkansas and Missouri. Despite clear evidence of their dwindling populations and dramatic habitat loss, the Trump administration withheld protection in 2019 — so we went to court last week.

Freshwater gastropods like these snails are some of the most imperiled species in North America. They’re also some of the most important, playing a key role in maintaining nutrient balances in their streamside ecosystems.

Feds Sued Over Destructive Grazing in Arizona

Since 2021 the Center’s field surveys in Agua Fria National Monument have repeatedly documented illegal livestock damage to delicate critical habitat for endangered species.

So this week, with our allies, we sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect endangered Gila chubs and threatened western yellow-billed cuckoos from cattle grazing.

“Federal agencies need to be jolted into taking action to stop illegal grazing from trashing endangered species habitat,” said the Center’s Chris Bugbee.

Across the desert Southwest, livestock grazing is the main driver of river and stream destruction that hurts riparian species.

Federal Sage Grouse Plan Won’t Save Their Habitat

A plan from the Bureau of Land Management, supposed to protect imperiled greater sage grouse, falls far short of what’s needed to stem the charismatic birds’ downward spiral toward extinction.

The agency’s proposed change — to 77 land-use plans — covers 69 million acres of public land across the U.S. West. Sage grouse are an umbrella species whose survival is closely linked to the health of the vast, threatened sagebrush sea ecosystem they call home.

Revelator: Celebrating Baby Gorillas

Every September tens of thousands of people from across the globe flock to Musanze, Rwanda, to attend Kwita Izina, a lavish ceremony celebrating and naming the baby mountain gorillas born in the previous year.

The celebration has come a long way from the days of rampant gorilla poaching, when it was just a few park rangers gathering around a campfire.

Read about it in The Revelator. And subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: I’ll Have What Anchovy’s Having

Scientists in Spain have found that anchovies — who travel in groups of millions, with a single female laying more than 20,000 eggs per year — can spawn with such a ruckus that they churn water up like a major storm. And that’s a good thing: Water turbulence mixes heat and nutrients throughout the ocean, which helps marine diversity as ocean temperatures become more stratified under climate change.

As Hakai Magazine recently reported, research on anchovy sex won the satiric Ig Nobel Prize for humorous, thought-provoking achievement.

Check out this video to better understand how mixing ocean temperatures benefits ecosystems.

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Photo credits: Gray wolf by KeithSzafranski, grizzly by through-my-lens, both via Canva; Vermilion Cliffs by Bob Wick/BLM; Arkansas mudalia snail by Paul Johnson/Alabama DCNR; yellow-billed cuckoo © Ron Austing; greater sage grouse by Dave Menke/USFWS; gorilla by Molly McCluskey; anchovies by andipantz via Canva.

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Center for Biological Diversity
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Tucson, AZ 85702
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