No. 1274, December 5, 2024

25 of 31 Florida Panther Deaths Caused by Cars

The past few years have been devastating for critically endangered Florida panthers — last week reports said 30 had died in 2024 alone, 24 of them killed by cars. Then, late on Friday, another panther was struck and killed, bringing the total to 25 out of 31.

With only a couple hundred of these panthers believed to remain in the wild, that’s unacceptable. And runaway development in South Florida — which destroys habitat and brings heavier traffic — is a major contributor to the tragic death toll.

You can help: Tell the feds to say no to the Bellmar project, which would bring thousands of new houses — and even more traffic — to within a mile of Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.

On Guam, an Endling Tree Is Lost

The last mature håyun lågu tree, or Serianthes nelsonii, on the island of Guam has died. The tree was badly hurt by the U.S. military’s clearing of limestone forest for a machine-gun range at Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz — then dealt a fatal blow by last year’s Typhoon Mawar.

“The loss of this mother tree is a clear sign of the devastation the U.S. military has wrought on the Native people and species of Guam,” the Center’s Pacific Islands director Maxx Phillips told the Pacific Daily News. “I’m absolutely heartbroken by the death of this beautiful tree because it means the species may now be extinct there.”

To stop this kind of tragedy from happening again on Guam, we’re in court over how Camp Blaz is harming more than a dozen other endangered and threatened species.

Please help with a gift to our Future for the Wild Fund. Do it now and your donation will be doubled.

Tell Duke Energy to Embrace Renewables

Fossil fuels are wreaking havoc on people, wildlife, and the planet.

Fueled by coal and gas, catastrophic storms and heat waves are devastating human communities and the habitats animals and plants need to survive. It takes years and billions of dollars to recover from these disasters — which are only getting worse.

Duke Energy, the third-largest corporate polluter in the United States, serves more than 8 million customers across six southeastern states. Despite its size, influence, and ability to lead the way to a clean energy future, the company has doubled down on fossil fuels — blocking climate action and running campaigns that mislead the public and protect its profits.

So Carrboro, North Carolina, is taking a stand against Duke Energy to hold it accountable for its anti-climate actions. You can help: Tell Duke Energy to ditch fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy now.

Fighting for Freshwater Snails

Shout-out to freshwater snails: They improve water quality, serve as a food source for many other species, and — because they’re highly sensitive to disruptions in their environments — act as indicators of ecosystem health.

These genial gastropods are also some of the most imperiled U.S. species. Sixty-seven snail species have gone extinct, and more than 450 of those left are at risk.

That’s why the Center fights for the often-overlooked little guys. Thanks to our persistent advocacy and a recent lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to consider the Arkansas mudalia for Endangered Species Act protection. And we just petitioned to protect two snails in Oregon’s Owyhee River.

Is Nature Returning to the LA River?

The Los Angeles River is more famous for its concrete and shopping carts than wildlife — and yet, on this heavily paved urban waterway that once featured rich wetlands, endangered songbirds called least Bell’s vireos have recently reappeared. In 2022 a pair built a nest, and this year fledglings were sighted.

The creation and rewilding of a state park in the area in 2007 surely helped, but the river itself is a big draw: The vireos are making their homes near one of very few soft-bottom sections of an otherwise concrete channel.

We’ve been advocating to save habitat for least Bell’s vireos — who rarely drink water and were once among California’s most abundant birds — since 1997.

Revelator: Muzzling Science

Will U.S. government scientists soon face the “muzzling” their Canadian counterparts experienced under right-wing Prime Minister Stephen Harper? For a new Revelator article, David Shiffman spoke to several people whose work was affected by Harper’s regressive policies, and they have advice to help prepare for Trump 2.0.

If you don’t already, subscribe to the free weekly Revelator e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: The Sounds of Extinction

Ascending the staircase of Paris’s Pompidou Center this month, visitors are immersed in an audio collage of endangered and extinct creatures — both real and mutated/imagined. Created by the pop star and artist Björk and photographer Aleph, along with other human and AI collaborators, the soundscape evokes the auditory presence of animals — from extinct Hawaiian crows to orangutans and mosquitoes. It’s intended to bring home the far-reaching urgency of the extinction crisis.

“Nature Manifesto” also features Björk’s voice: “It is an emergency,” she intones. “The apocalypse has already happened. And how we will act now is essential.”

Hear part of the soundscape for yourself in this video Bjork shared on Instagram.

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Photo credits: Rescued Florida panther kittens by Michaelstone428/Wikimedia; a mature håyun lågu tree courtesy U.S. Marine Corps; press conference to hold Duke Energy accountable courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; Arkansas mudalia snail by Paul Johnson/Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; least Bell’s vireo courtesy USFWS; muzzle by Jennifer Moo; Hawaiian crow via Wikimedia Commons, mosquitoes on a flower by Ignacio Torres, mother and baby orangutan courtesy USFWS.

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