No. 1310, August 14, 2025

Save Cook Inlet Belugas From This Climate Disaster

The critically endangered beluga whales of Cook Inlet, Alaska, are under threat — again. In the heart of their habitat, the Trump administration wants to allow destructive underwater construction activities for a gas pipeline and massive export terminal.

The project’s noise pollution would disrupt belugas’ feeding, communication, and mother-calf bonding in a population already hanging by a thread. Only about 330 of these gentle whales survive, down from 1,300 just a few decades ago.

This export terminal would also be a climate disaster, locking us into decades of fossil fuel extraction and burning when transitioning to renewable energy is more urgent than ever.

Take action to stop this reckless project from hurting Cook Inlet’s one-of-a-kind belugas — and the whole planet’s future.

Lawsuit Seeks Dirty Details on Trump Order

The Center for Biological Diversity just sued the Trump administration to get public records on “energy emergency” actions that could harm endangered species across the United States, from polar bears to prairie chickens.

Upon taking office, President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to make lists of actions to boost fossil fuel production on an emergency basis — letting those agencies skip the Endangered Species Act’s requirement to make sure projects don’t drive protected species extinct.

Even after we filed two Freedom of Information Act requests, the administration has refused to share any of the action lists. That’s illegal.

Help the Center fight for transparency and protect wildlife with a gift to our Future for the Wild Fund.

A Temporary Halt to Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz”

After a lawsuit by the Center and allies, a federal judge has ordered the state of Florida and the Trump administration to temporarily halt construction of the mass detention center in the Everglades cruelly known as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

Meanwhile our lawsuit, filed in June and joined by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, is allowed to proceed. The detention center site is surrounded by the Big Cypress National Preserve, which protects fragile wetlands and a dozen federally protected species, including endangered Florida panthers and Florida bonneted bats.

We’re relieved by the temporary halt, but we still need your help: Tell officials to stop this Everglades evisceration for good.

Wolf Asha Released With Mate, Pups in New Mexico

Following pressure from the Center, our allies, and the public, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has finally released the beloved endangered Mexican gray wolf named Asha, along with her new family, into the New Mexican wild. After twice crossing the arbitrary northern boundary of Interstate 40, Asha was captured and kept in prolonged captivity, where she gave birth this spring.

Asha, her five puppies, and her mate, Arcadia, were released onto conservation-managed lands next to the Gila National Forest. Hopefully, when the pups grow up and reproduce, they’ll help boost Mexican gray wolves’ low genetic diversity.

Working to Protect Snake, Flower, Salamander, Beetle

We just petitioned to get federal protection for Dixie Cavern salamanders, found in just three cave locations in Virginia’s Roanoke County. These slender salamanders, who have white and brassy flecks along their dark bodies, are threatened by deforestation, development, disease, and climate change.

In the Southeast, we’ve sued the Trump administration for failing to protect Florida pinesnakes, large and secretive snakes who spend most of their time underground. Logging, urbanization, and fire suppression have destroyed and degraded their habitat, so we petitioned for their protection more than a decade ago.

Meanwhile we’re also seeking safeguards for Willcox Playa tiger beetles — fast-running insects who emerge from lakebed burrows during the monsoons — and Columbia yellowcress, tough-but-rare flowers in the mustard family that survive in only a few dozen Pacific Northwest locations.

Revelator: Fighting — and Winning — Against PFAS

Activist Emily Donovan is making polluters pay for the traces of PFAS — aka “forever chemicals” — tainting drinking water in her North Carolina community (and others around the country).

Read more in The Revelator.

And if you haven’t yet, subscribe to The Revelator’s free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news.

That’s Wild: Wolves Get “Thunderstruck”

Researchers looking for nonlethal ways to keep wolves away from livestock are experimenting with a novel approach: overhead drones playing audio clips, including AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” and an intense argument scene from the 2019 movie Marriage Story.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is running hazing experiments at ranching operations in southern Oregon and Northern California. The audio blasts have so far yielded some positive results in scaring wolves from cattle. No word yet if Kenny G will have to be deployed.

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Photo credits: Alaska belugas courtesy NOAA; lesser prairie chicken by Patty McGann/Flickr; Florida panther courtesy NPS; Mexican gray wolf Asha courtesy USFWS; Florida pinesnake courtesy FFWCC, Columbia yellowcress courtesy USFS, Dixie Cavern salamander by Matt Neff; Emily Donovan used with permission; gray wolf by Lori Iverson/USFWS,AC/DC by Matt Becker/Wikimedia.

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Center for Biological Diversity
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