No. 1315, September 18, 2025

Protect Sea Life From Another Oil Spill

In 2010 BP's Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling rig exploded, killing 11 people. The resulting spill poured up to 205 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and harmed thousands of animals, from seabirds and sea turtles to marine mammals.

Now BP has proposed a risky new drilling plan in even deeper Gulf waters, where oil is under extreme pressure. Reaching that oil will test technological limits and threaten key habitat for critically endangered Rice's whales. With only around 50 of these whales left, another oil spill could drive the species extinct.

Thanks to public opposition to the initial plan — including nearly 14,000 comments from Center for Biological Diversity supporters — the U.S. Department of the Interior sent BP's proposal back for modifications. But the changes don't make BP's new plan safe — and Interior is considering granting it anyway.

Offshore oil drilling devastates the environment, and spills can have long-lasting consequences. With so much at stake, we can't let BP drill in the Gulf again.

Speak up for sea life: Tell Interior to fully reject this dangerous drilling plan.

Suit Targets Trump Axing of Slaughterhouse Rules

The Center and allies filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Trump administration’s recent decision to abandon rules that would have stopped slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants from dumping of millions of pounds of pollutants into American waterways.

“The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw these lifesaving pollution-reduction measures isn’t just unlawful — it’s incredibly nasty,” said the Center’s Hannah Connor. “The U.S. meat industry slaughters some 18,000 animals a minute, creating a waste stream full of blood, fecal bacteria, and disease-causing pathogens. This lawless administration is putting industry profits ahead of protecting kids from swimming in gross pollution.”

Help our fight by giving to the Center’s Health for the Wild Fund. Do it now and your donation will be doubled.

Advocating for Mexican Wolves’ Genetic Diversity

In a letter sent today, the Center and allies called on Arizona, New Mexico, and U.S. wildlife agencies to protect the genetic diversity of endangered Mexican gray wolves — which, a new analysis shows, has declined for the fourth year in a row.

We’re asking the agencies to release wolf families from captivity, since captive wolves are 37% more genetically diverse than wild wolves — and when pups are released without their families, they’re usually never seen alive again. We’re also asking officials to stop killing genetically valuable wolves and to let Mexican wolves mate with northern gray wolves, as they did for millennia.

You can help: Urge Interior Secretary Doug Burgun not to kill a Mexican wolf with valuable genes who’s slated to be shot from the air.

Court Says Offshore Drilling Suit Can Go Forward

A judge has just denied a bid by Sable Offshore Corp., an oil-drilling company, to dismiss a lawsuit by the Center and allies challenging a federal decision to allow aging oil platforms off the California coast to restart production under outdated development plans.

Drilling would threaten sea otters, blue whales, piping plovers, and countless other species with the risk of oil spills.

“I’m glad the court saw through Sable’s attempt to shut this lawsuit down,” said Kristen Monsell, our oceans legal director. “Conditions have changed dramatically since these drilling plans were approved in the ’80s. We look forward to speaking up for the coast and presenting our arguments in court.”

Revelator: Wild Trade

Can people save wildlife from the harmful exotic pet trade? European Union legislators are considering a form of regulation that could protect many species from unsafe exploitation — if it’s done right.

Read more in The Revelator.

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

Pine Rocklands Conservation Team Wins Award

South Florida’s critically endangered pine rocklands ecosystem is home to more than 20 species listed under the Endangered Species Act, from Key deer to Miami tiger beetles — and it sits in one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States.

This month the Pine Rocklands Conservation Team, a public-private partnership that includes the Center, just won a Regional Recovery Champion Award in recognition of our collaborative work to protect and recover this incredible ecosystem that’s threatened by population pressure, invasive species, sea-level rise, and storms.

That’s Wild: The Dark DNA of Dancing Spiders

The glamorously colored, dancing peacock spiders of Australia — who make up their own genus — come in more than 100 species, many only the size of a pin head.

That diversity, scientists now believe, may be linked to mysterious parts of the animals’ genetic code biologists call their “dark DNA.” Peacock spiders have three times as much of it, according to the BBC, as humans.

Watch a video of one of their dances.

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Photo credits: Green sea turtle by Seasidesaltlife/Wikimedia, Rice's whale by Paul Nagelkirk/NOAA; piglet by Kevin/Flickr; Mexican wolves by Mark Dumont/Flickr; sea otter by Mike Baird/Flickr; Key deer in the public domain; sugar glider courtesy Animal Protection and Advocacy; peacock spider by Bron/Flickr.

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