North American bats have an estimated economic value of $23 billion annually due to their natural role as insect pest regulators. These bats have faced a significant decline due to white-nose syndrome (a fungal disease of hibernating bats), among other threats. Despite their ecological importance and conservation status, bats are sometimes labeled as pests because some species (those that typically roost in tree cavities) have adapted to roosting in manmade structures. Roost sites are used as maternity colonies (where females give birth to and raise pups) as well as hibernation sites.
An attempt was made to encourage more foraging behaviour in eight pair-housed adult rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). No special device and no special food were used. Daily commercial dry food rations (238g per animal) consisting of 33 bar-shaped or 16 star-shaped biscuits per animal were placed on the mesh ceiling of the cages instead of in the feed-boxes.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued an announcement today on the future of the red wolf recovery program, including both for captive wolves and the wild red wolves, the only wild population on the planet, reintroduced into eastern North Carolina in 1987.
In September of last year, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed significantly reducing the range of the existing wild population of red wolves by removing individual wolves from the wild in order to increase the captive breeding population—so
On October 4, the US Fish and Wildlife Service ruled against adding the Pacific walrus to the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act.
In the summer 2015 edition of the AWI Quarterly, we told you about an alarming proposal from the US Fish and Wildlife Service that would create serious roadblocks for private citizens wishing to petition the agency to protect imperiled species under the Endangered Species Act.
As we go to press, proposals have been published in the Federal Register by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that portend an enormous impact on the future of the affected species. The first calls for the removal of the gray wolf (Canis lupus) from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) gave the green light in March for two American hunters to import one black rhino carcass each from Namibia as trophies. One hunter, Michael Luzich, had already shot a rhino—having paid the Namibian government $200,000 for the privilege—but had not yet received permission from the US government to import the carcass.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has postponed its decision on listing the northern long-eared bat as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) until April 2015. The decision was originally due this past October (see Summer 2014 AWI Quarterly), but USFWS capitulated to objections from industry groups and several state natural resource agencies.
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.
