Center for Biological Diversity

[link removed]

Endangered Earth

No. 1,316, September 25, 2025

--------------------------------------------
Win for Grizzlies Near Yellowstone
A federal court just found [[link removed]] that the U.S. Forest Service broke the law when it approved expanded livestock grazing north of Yellowstone National Park in Montana, where grizzly bears live, without analyzing how more grazing would affect public lands in the area. The Forest Service had expanded both the grazing area and the grazing season, which the best science shows will put grizzlies at higher risk of being killed in response to conflict with cattle operations. So the Center for Biological Diversity and allies sued.
“I’m thrilled the court struck down the federal government’s illegal decision to increase livestock grazing in important grizzly bear habitat,” said Andrea Zaccardi, the Center's carnivore conservation legal director. “Putting livestock on public lands where grizzlies live is akin to baiting these bears into conflicts. I hope the Forest Service will revisit its decision and decide not to move forward with this irresponsible proposal.”

Another Southern Resident Orca Mourns Her Baby
Our hearts break for a Southern Resident orca named Alki who was recently seen in drone footage [[link removed]] carrying her dead calf off the Pacific Northwest coast.
These intelligent, highly social orcas — among the planet’s most fragile whale populations — often grieve their babies like this. In 2018 a whale named Tahlequah carried her deceased calf for 17 days and 1,000 miles. But there’s still hope for Alki’s pod: Scientists have spotted another calf among them. [[link removed]]
Southern Residents have a very high rate of miscarriage and newborn deaths because of malnutrition, contaminants from pollution, stress from vessel disturbance, and potential inbreeding, with a population of only 73.
The Center has been defending these whales since 2001, when we filed the petition that won their federal protection. Help with a gift to our Future for the Wild Fund . [[link removed]]

Seeking Protection for Flower, Thrashers, Spadefoot
This month we petitioned to protect a rare Oregon flower under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The striking Willamette phlox [[link removed]] lives only in a handful of ephemeral wetland habitats in the southern Willamette Valley, which have dwindled to a mere 2% of their historic extent.
We also sought protection for two desert birds and one amphibian under the California Endangered Species Act. Bendire’s thrashers and LeConte’s thrashers [[link removed]] are secretive songbirds who live in arid desert habitats, and they rarely fly — instead, when threatened, they run for cover with their tails cocked like miniature velociraptors. Western spadefoots [[link removed]] are commonly called toads, but they’re actually a type of frog. These small, big-eyed amphibians can breed in different kinds of water bodies but are particularly partial to seasonal wetlands called vernal pools.
Monarch photo with the words 'With football season kicking in to high gear, help save 10 football fields of butterfly habitat: Before you bring guac to the party, ask your grocers to only stock PFA-certified avocados.' [[link removed]]


New Border-Wall Segment Blasts Through Arizona
This month the Center’s Russ McSpadden documented construction of the first 250 feet of a new segment of border wall [[link removed]] through the San Rafael Valley in Arizona. The planned 27-mile wall would block a critical wildlife corridor for dozens of imperiled species, including endangered jaguars and ocelots. To build it the Trump administration waived the Endangered Species Act and other important environmental laws — so we sued in July.
Hear Russ speak about the wall and other topics in the Rewilding Institute’s podcast [[link removed]] .
And see his video footage of the wall’s destruction on Facebook [[link removed]] or Instagram [[link removed]] .


Orphan Mountain Lion Cubs Face a Difficult Future
Two mountain lion cubs have been left alone after the tragic death of their mother [[link removed]] , a lion known as F390 who was killed on Southern California’s Highway 74 earlier this month. The cubs are too young to be safely separated from her but too old to be taken in by a rescue center.
Roads are among the many threats to these 14-month-old kittens, who already face an extinction vortex driven by inbreeding and rat poisons (as well as vehicle strikes).
The Center works hard to reduce the risks to wide-ranging wildlife like mountain lions, panthers, and red wolves by improving habitat connectivity.
Head to Facebook [[link removed]] or Instagram [[link removed]] to watch a video of two other orphaned kittens, P-91 and P-92, when they were tiny in their foster den.



Revelator: A Puzzling Tree
Why did The Revelator ’s editor, John Platt, encounter an endangered South American tree in Portland, Oregon?
In this new article he digs into the fascinating history of monkey puzzle trees — and the myriad modern threats these “living fossils” face. [[link removed]]
If you haven’t yet, subscribe to The Revelator ’s free weekly e-newsletter for more wildlife and conservation news. [[link removed]]

That’s Wild: Chimps Guzzle 2 Drinks a Day in Fruit
According to a new survey out of the University of California at Berkeley, the ethanol content in fruit available to wild chimps in Uganda and Ivory Coast could mean they consume what amounts to two cocktails a day [[link removed]] .
“Across all sites, male and female chimpanzees are consuming about 14 grams of pure ethanol per day in their diet, which is the equivalent to one standard American drink,” said UC Berkeley graduate student Aleksey Maro. When you adjust for chimps’ body mass — much lower than peoples’ — it’s more like two drinks.
So if alcohol is a regular part of chimps’ diets, could it have been a regular part of the diets of humans’ ancestors, too?

*********************************************

Share Endangered Earth Online: [link removed]

Donate now to support the Center's work: [link removed]

Follow Us

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]

This message was sent to [email protected].

Opt out of this mailing list: [link removed]

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

0-0-0-0