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Frostpaw in Bonn, Germany
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

Feeling the Heat in Bonn — Calling Out California Gov. Brown

If California Gov. Jerry Brown was hoping to be hailed as a climate hero at the global climate talks in Bonn, Germany, he should have known better.

Brown has a long and frustrating record of supporting fracking and oil drilling — and the Center for Biological Diversity has an equally long history of calling him out. That's just what our climate team did in Bonn last week, right after releasing a new report highlighting California's continuing production of some of Earth's dirtiest oil.

Brown's Saturday speech was met with banners noting his support for fracking, and raucous demonstrators reminding him of his oil-friendly policies back home.

At one point, in response to chants of "Keep it in the ground," Brown told protesters, "Let's put you in the ground so we can get on with the show." Um ... Wow.

Read more in The Sacramento Bee and check our new report on dirty oil in California.

Wolf OR-10

Reward Offered Over Killings of 2 Oregon Wolves

State officials have confirmed in recent weeks that two wolves have been poached in southern Oregon. It's a troubling turn for the state's fledgling wolf population.

The Center has added thousands of dollars to federal rewards for information on the illegal killings of OR-25 and OR-33, two wandering males from northeastern Oregon.

Since state Endangered Species Act protections were removed from Oregon wolves in late 2015, at least nine wolves there have been poached or died under mysterious circumstances.

"Wolves in Oregon are being gunned down maliciously after wildlife officials prematurely removed state-level protections for these misunderstood animals," said the Center's Amaroq Weiss. "Whatever you think of wolves, poaching is wrong and cowardly."

Read more in our press release.

Greater Sage Grouse Need Your Help Right Now

Greater sage grouse

The Bureau of Land Management is reconsidering land-use plans for greater sage grouse habitat across 10 western states. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has made it clear he intends to gut these already weak plans to make it even easier for corporations to frack, drill and mine in the rare birds' habitat.

Greater sage grouse are completely dependent on intact sagebrush steppe for their survival. Tell the BLM: These special birds need increased protections consistent with science — including an end to all new oil and gas drilling in their habitat.

San Gabriel chestnut snail

Here at the Center we've got an abiding love for snails. These little mollusks are cute, fascinating and crucial to the places they live. But did you know half the world's mollusk species are threatened with extinction? This week we petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the San Gabriel chestnut snail, which lives only in the Los Angeles area. Check out our video above and learn more about this snail's plight in our press release.

Humpback whale

Center Op-ed: Protect Whales From Crabbers

California's crabbing season just commenced again — and again, state officials have failed to protect whales from getting entangled, injured and killed in Dungeness crab ropes and traps.

Gray whales, orcas, and endangered humpback and blue whales are being killed in crab and other fishing gear in record numbers along the West Coast.

Said the Center's Kristen Monsell in a recent op-ed: "That's why we were forced to sue the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, urging it to better regulate this fishery. Our fishery regulators have a legal and moral obligation to save the whales by reducing the number of entanglements."

Read more in The Mercury News.

Petition Filed to Save Tiny Jumping Mouse in Rockies

Yellowstone grizzly bear

The Preble's meadow jumping mouse still badly needs Endangered Species Act protections, according to a new petition filed by the Center and Rocky Mountain Wild.

Our petition responds to a call by Pacific Legal Foundation — an extremist private property rights group — to remove the mouse's safeguards.

"Pacific Legal Foundation's effort to strip the jumping mouse's protection has nothing to do with science and everything to do with its anti-wildlife, anti-nature agenda," said the Center's Noah Greenwald. Read more.

Desert tortoise

Legal Protest Launched Against Nevada Fracking Plan

The Center and allies this week filed an administrative protest against the Bureau of Land Management's plan to allow fracking on some 600 square miles of Nevada's public lands.

Fracking on these lands could contaminate ground and surface water, hurt imperiled wildlife like desert tortoises, and cause irreparable harm to the climate.

"The Trump administration is putting some of Nevada's most critical water supplies at risk of fracking pollution by auctioning off this public land to oil companies," said the Center's Nevada State Director Patrick Donnelly.

Read more in our press release.

Parasite Lost: The Disappearance of an Ocean Flatworm

Thornback ray

Did overfishing just trigger an extinction in the waters off Scotland? The Revelator has a new story about the disappearance of a tiny flatworm linked to the barndoor skate and the thornback ray — two species often netted as bycatch in commercial fishing.

A new paper says the parasitic worm may be gone forever because they've lost their hosts. So why should you care about the disappearance of this 4-inch worm?

Find out in the story — and don't forget to sign up for The Revelator's weekly e-newsletter.

More Than a Dozen California Cities Oppose Offshore Drilling

Laguna Beach

Marina and Laguna Beach are the latest to join communities around California to oppose fossil fuel drilling and fracking off the state's coast. They follow eleven other communities — including Oakland, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Malibu — in passing resolutions against new offshore drilling.

The resolutions resist Trump's order urging more oil and gas exploitation in federal waters, which could expose the Pacific Ocean to new oil leasing for the first time in more than 30 years. If you're a Californian, help us save the Golden State's coast.

Roadrunner

Wild & Weird: Hungry Roadrunner Cam

From time to time hungry roadrunners pay a visit to the Center's borderlands critter cams in the Sky Islands of Arizona. Now we've gathered footage of several of these awesome birds, including one hunting a bug and another gulping down a tasty lizard. One roadrunner is just staring inquisitively into the camera lens — but he's still a thrill to watch.

Have a look on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram.

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Photo credits: Frostpaw at COP23 in Bonn by Jean Su/Center for Biological Diversity; wolf OR-10 courtesy ODFW; greater sage grouse by Tatiana Gettelman/USGS; San Gabriel chestnut snail video still by Cedric Lee; humpback whale by Dirk Kirchner/Flickr; Preble's mouse courtesy USFWS; desert tortoise by Kurt Moses/NPS; thornback ray by Joachim S. Müller/Flickr; Laguna Beach by Steve Devol/Flickr; roadrunner by Russ McSpadden/Center for Biological Diversity.

Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702