Political Climate: USFWS Shows Weak Will on Wolverines
On February 1, 2013, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced a proposal to list the North American wolverine as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Please see the below articles about Terrestrial Wildlife from past editions of the AWI Quarterly.
New Jersey, New York Pass Laws to Ban Trade in Ivory and Rhino Horns
This summer, New Jersey and New York, two states that represent key ports of entry into the United States for consumer goods (and wildlife trafficking), passed laws to help stem the illegal trade in ivory...
Lynx Left in Limbo
On September 11, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) revised its critical habitat designation for threatened Canada lynx, as well as its definition of the animal’s distinct population segment (DPS) protected by the Endangered...
AWI Helps Communities Choose Fertility Control of Deer over Deadly Management
Deer management is a significant issue across the country, and traditionally has resulted in lethal population control via sharpshooting, hunting with firearms, and bow hunting—despite the latter method’s documented inefficiency and potential for animals to...
Wildlife Services Trapper Can't Wriggle Out After Injuring Dog
A federal judge has ruled that an Arizona animal cruelty case, involving a former employee of USDA’s Wildlife Services who trapped and severely injured his neighbor's dog, can go forward. The accused, Russell Files, had...
Predators: Pivotal Role, yet Increasingly Imperiled
Two distinct, loud “thumps”—that is how, in a September 27, 2014, Facebook post, the president of Lobo Watch, an anti-wolf organization, described the sound when his minivan struck two wolves chasing an elk calf traversing...
Drones Deployed to Defend Wildlife
Try as they might, hard-working wildlife officials cannot be everywhere at once. In remote areas, it is a depressingly familiar scenario for such officials to come upon grisly crime scenes strewn with the bodies of...
Pachyderm Poachers Headed to Prison Under New Mozambique Law
One country may already be turning the table on traffickers. On June 20, Mozambique passed a law that mandates a prison term of 8 to 12 years for poaching of endangered species. In the past...
Rep. DeFazio Introduces Bill to Fight Ivory Trade
Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), introduced the Targeted Use of Sanctions for Killing Elephants in their Range (TUSKER) Act on September 11, a bill to impose trade sanctions...
South Africa to Sell Rhinos
South Africa's Kruger National Park is taking bids from private landowners for 500 of its white rhinos. Newspaper ads advise parties to "make a written offer to purchase white rhinos in batches of 20 or...