Tell the FDA: It’s Past Time to Ban Ractopamine |
Ractopamine is a drug used to rapidly grow muscle in cows, pigs, and turkeys who are being raised for meat. It has documented adverse effects on the health and welfare of animals treated with it, including tremors, lesions, and broken limbs. This dangerous drug also puts farmworkers at risk and harms the environment by polluting habitat for aquatic species like zebrafish.
Ractopamine is banned or restricted in meat production in at least 160 countries, including China and the whole European Union. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved it — at levels above the standards adopted by the United Nations' food-standards body. Ractopamine use in the United States needs to stop. Call on the FDA to ban this drug in farmed animals now. |
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Legal Action Aims to Save Old Trees in the Tongass |
Along with conservation allies, Alaska Native Tribes, a fishing group, and others, the Center for Biological Diversity has filed a request to intervene in a timber industry move to revive industrial, old-growth logging in the precious Tongass National Forest. In recent years, as the Tongass has transitioned away from large-scale old-growth logging, the regional sustainable economy has flourished — and the forest’s current management is in line with what most Southeast Alaskans want. “This reckless new push to log old trees in the Tongass is utterly out of step with today’s climate and conservation realities,” said Marlee Goska, a Center attorney in Alaska. “These ancient forests store vast amounts of carbon and support rich ecosystems. We can’t let the timber industry drag us back to an era when old-growth forests are devastated without a second thought.”
Help our fight for the Tongass and other wild places with a gift to the Center’s Future for the Wild Fund. Do it today to double your impact. |
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Suit Filed to Protect Refuge From Rockets |
The turquoise waters surrounding remote Johnston Atoll — protected as the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument — are a sanctuary for seabirds, corals, and endangered species like sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals.
But now the Trump administration plans to build landing pads for SpaceX rockets in that sensitive habitat. So last week the Center sued the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make them release public records on their decision-making process. “This project threatens to destroy a site millions of seabirds need for nesting and overwintering, all in the name of military logistics and Elon Musk’s profit,” said Maxx Phillips, the Center’s Hawai‘i and Pacific Islands director. |
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Watch Wolves Returning to the West Coast |
Last week California’s wildlife agency confirmed three new wolf packs, bringing the state’s total to 10 known packs (plus two small groups that aren’t official packs yet).
The return of wolves to the whole West Coast is an inspiring conservation success story — one made possible because legal protections have let them disperse into new territories. But there’s plenty more habitat, so recovery is still in the early stages.
Head to Facebook or Instagram to watch (and share) our new time-lapse map showing wolves’ West Coast comeback from 2008 to 2024.
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Don’t Forget — June 14 Is the ‘No Kings’ Rally |
On June 14, Flag Day, President Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday — a dictator-style flex. But real power isn’t staged. It’s given to leaders by the people.
So the second Saturday of June — the weekend after this one — the Center will join folks across the country to march against authoritarianism and the billionaire takeover. Together we can reject Trump’s gutting of critical government agencies responsible for protecting endangered species, wildlife, and wild places.
Find an event near you. |
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Revelator: Who Heals the Earth’s Healers? |
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That's Wild: Young Lemurs Sing Like Kids |
Like human children, a new study has found, indri lemurs — black-and-white prosimians native only to Madagascar — tend to vocalize out of tune in their youth and improve with experience. The signs of juvenile vocalizations being less polished than their elders’ included rough noises, cracks, and jumps in pitch, according to the study’s lead researcher.
Also, male lemurs were found to sing with more instability and roughness than females. |
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Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702
United States
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