Join Jay Petrequin to hear the latest in wildlife news from Defenders of Wildlife!
Transcript:
A new listing for a lucky lizard. A bad bill for gray wolves. And welcoming some critically endangered pups. I’m Jay Petrequin and this is your Wildlife News for May 2024. Starting off with a long-awaited victory for the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced this month that the species will be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This announcement comes after years of litigation and advocacy from Defenders of Wildlife which petitioned for the listing in 2018. This is a monumental step in providing a lifeline for this unique lizard, whose only fault has been occupying a habitat that the fossil fuel industry has long wanted to claw away from it.
Back in our Nation’s capital, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill sponsored by Representative Lauren Boebert to prematurely delist gray wolves in the lower forty-eight states from the Endangered Species Act. This is yet another troubling sign that anti-wildlife members in the House are working to subvert our nation’s landmark conservation laws. Wolves play hugely important roles in maintaining healthy ecosystems and cutting recovery efforts short will only escalate the biodiversity crisis that threatens people and wildlife around the globe.
Luckily there is good news for some North American canids. North Carolina’s Red Wolf Recovery Program has confirmed the birth of a wild litter of Red Wolf pups within Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, home to the only population of wild Red Wolves. Every pup born in the wild brings us closer to recovery for the world’s most endangered canid, and is a clear sign that the Red Wolves can survive and thrive if managed properly. Head to defenders.org/newsroom for more wildlife news and please help us defend wildlife by subscribing and sharing this video. Thanks and see you next time.
Defenders of Wildlife works on the ground, in the courts, and on Capitol Hill to protect and restore imperiled wildlife and habitats across North America. Together, we can ensure a future for the wildlife and wild places we all love.
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