Defenders of Wildlife

WASHINGTON, DC, October 23, 2020 – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is reviewing a permitapplication for seismic exploration for the fragile coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Seismic exploration would profoundly impact this important landscape for decades, scarring the tundra, damaging critical habitat for imperiled polar bears and potentially causing the death of […]

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2020 – The Trump administration announced today that it will finalize new regulations that roll back protections against extreme methods of killing predators and other wildlife in Alaska national preserves. National preserves are managed by the National Park Service (NPS) like national parks, except hunting and fishing are permitted. NPS’s new regulations […]

April 14, 2020 – As reported in the Federal Register today, the Trump administration has issued another waiver of environmental and public safety laws to expedite border wall construction in Texas. This marks the 28th such waiver issued by this administration and will cover two tracts of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, one […]

Washington, DC, July 25, 2019 – Less than four months after the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska struck down the Trump administration’s agreement to trade away internationally recognized, wilderness wetlands in Izembek National Wildlife Refuge to a private corporation, the Interior Department has reportedly signed another land swap deal to facilitate road […]

SEATTLE, July 11, 2019 – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced more lethal removals from the OPT wolf pack in the Kettle Range in northern Ferry County. The nine-member wolf pack (five adults and four pups) faces incremental killing – removing up to two wolves from the pack, followed by a two-week […]

WASHINGTON, September 26, 2018 – Today, the House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on an expansive anti-wildlife package of bills that would weaken the Endangered Species Act (ESA), our nation’s most effective law for protecting wildlife in danger of extinction. Members of the Congressional Western Caucus announced in July their legislation that would […]

WASHINGTON,September 24, 2018 – Today, a broad coalition formally submitted more than 500,000 public comments bringing the total to more than 800,000 comments opposing proposed changes to the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act is our nation’s most effective tool in saving wildlife facing extinction. On July 19th, the Trump administration […]

WASHINGTON, July 2, 2018 – Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) wants to drastically rewrite the Endangered Species Act (ESA), our nation’s most effective law for protecting wildlife in danger of extinction. In newly proposed legislation, he would shift key authority for conserving threatened and endangered species to individual states, which lack the laws, resources and political […]

WASHINGTON, April 20, 2018 – Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which killed 11 people and spilled more than 210 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. All told, more than 1 million birds, at least 1,000 bottle-nosed dolphins and many other mammals were killed in the four years […]

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2017 – Defenders of Wildlife has joined a new campaign to boycott Mexican shrimp until the Mexican government enforces fishing regulations to protect the vaquita, the world’s smallest and most endangered cetacean. It is estimated that only about 30 vaquitas survive in their native habitat in the Upper Gulf of California, and […]