The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) commends the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for releasing a final rule today that provides additional Endangered Species Act protections for imperiled African elephants.
On September 10, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it proposes to list the southern white rhinoceros as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In December, AWI officially notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) of its intent to sue the agency for failing to decide in a timely fashion on whether to list the pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) as endangered, pursuant to the emergency listing petition AWI filed in November 2013.
As previous Quarterly articles have reported, white-nose syndrome (WNS) is having a devastating effect on US and Canadian populations of hibernating bats. Some formerly abundant species are now on the brink of becoming endangered. The first fallout of this can be seen in the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) proposal to give endangered species protection to the once-common northern long-eared bat.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today announced a proposed rule to classify both wild and captive chimpanzees as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Currently, only wild chimpanzees are listed as endangered, while captive chimpanzees are listed as threatened. This allows for chimps to be commercially exploited, used in laboratories, sold and traded as pets, and used in entertainment.
Two years ago, red wolves numbered 90–110 in the wild. Victories won by AWI and allies limiting the hunting of coyotes in the wolves’ recovery area in North Carolina were helping to give the wolves a chance to take hold—that is, until the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), in response to pressure from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, suddenly halted all red wolf recovery efforts in 2015.
Following a recent review of the conservation status of grizzly bears in the continental United States, the US Fish and Wildlife Service recommended in March that the bears continue to be listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The USFWS evaluated current conditions in the six ecosystems designated as grizzly bear recovery zones in Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming.
In November 2012, the Animal Welfare Institute and several other organizations sued and obtained a preliminary injunction against spotlight hunting of coyotes at night in the five-county area of eastern North Carolina inhabited by the world’s only wild population of red wolves (Canis rufus), which are frequently mistaken for coyotes due to similarity in appearance.
A leaked memo from the US Fish and Wildlife Service concerning how the agency plans to regulate endangered species listings under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could have severe impacts on imperiled wildlife.
In January, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed a reclassification of the West Indian manatee from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. AWI strongly opposes this proposal.
In March, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released a proposed rule to fully delist all gray wolves (Canis lupus) across the contiguous United States except the Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) in Arizona and New Mexico
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) condemns today’s decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to suspend red wolf reintroductions pending additional review of the red wolf recovery program. USFWS intends to complete its review by the end of 2015. Existing red wolves located in the five eastern North Carolina counties will be managed in accordance with rules put in place in 1995 to govern this population, designated “non-essential, experimental” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
There has been a significant reduction in gunshot mortality of red wolves over the last year, ever since coyote hunting was restricted in the wolves’ North Carolina habitat as a result of legal action taken by AWI and allies. Nevertheless, the red wolf remains in dire need of the protections guaranteed to listed species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) notified the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) today of its intent to sue the agency for failing to make a timely 12-month finding, as required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), on whether to list the pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) as endangered.
Mexico must respond to allegations that the government failed to enforce protections for the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, according to a decision by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an environmental review body under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Conservation groups petitioned the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) today to investigate Mexico’s failure to enforce its fishing and trade laws. Mexico’s enforcement failures violate the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and if continued will cause the vaquita porpoise to go extinct.
After a two-year delay, the Council of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) voted unanimously yesterday to investigate Mexico’s failure to protect the critically endangered vaquita porpoise. Mexico has not enforced its own fishing and wildlife trade laws, and that failure is causing the near-extinction of the vaquita.
Recently, the Agricultural Advisory Board of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food adopted best management practices for the state’s animal agriculture industries.
A case currently on appeal in federal courts could have serious implications for the scope of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The case involves the Utah prairie dog (Cynomys parvidens), a species listed as threatened under the ESA.
A committee of experts—convened at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to review whether it is “necessary” for the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to continue using dogs in biomedical research to fulfill its missio
After many years of resisting the clear trend of history regarding the captive display of cetaceans, the Vancouver Aquarium has finally conceded: On January 18, the aquarium’s management announced that it would no longer display cetaceans once the
Katherine Rundell’s Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures offers a brisk and enjoyable examination of a wide range of species, all remarkable in their own right—and all at risk of being lost forever.
In Vaquita: Science, Politics and Crime in the Sea of Cortez, author Brooke Bessesen elucidates the complex story of the vaquita. With more than 30 years’ experience in animal rescue and marine fieldwork, Bessesen writes with both authority and heart, bringing the reader into the center of the storm that has been the decades-long effort to save the vaquita. She thoroughly researched her subject, even embedding herself for weeks on end in the Gulf’s local communities.
Conservation organizations announced today that Trader Joe’s has declared it will stop buying shrimp from Mexico. The popular grocery store chain’s decision follows pressure from organizations behind the Boycott Mexican Shrimp campaign, launched earlier this year in an effort to save the vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, from decades of decline due to entanglement in shrimp fishing gear.
Identified only 50 years ago, the critically endangered vaquita is endemic to Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California. Reaching a maximum length of about four feet, the porpoise is gray, with dark stripes running from its flippers to the middle of its lower lip. As recently as 20 years ago, there were approximately 600 vaquitas swimming in the Gulf.
