Center for Biological Diversity

Center for Biological Diversity:

Video: Starving Polar Bear Cubs Show Warming's Tragic Effects

Some graphic -- and heartbreaking -- new video footage taken in Hudson Bay, Canada, shows the dire consequences of continued global-warming stalemate on polar bears. Shot on Nov. 23, the video shows a malnourished polar bear mother and her two starving cubs struggling to survive as one cub experiences seizures; both cubs died within two days of the filming. Polar bears depend on sea ice for key life activities, including hunting -- so as that ice melts due to global warming, finding food is increasingly difficult. Polar bears in Hudson Bay must fast throughout the warmer Canada summer and return to the sea ice to hunt when it refreezes. But each year, the sea-ice period becomes shorter: The average date it breaks up is three weeks earlier than 30 years ago, while the freeze-up is several weeks later. The western Hudson Bay polar bear population, which declined by 22 percent between 1987 and 2004, will probably be the first driven extinct by global warming.

Spurred by a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Obama government is now on the verge of a crucial decision on whether the polar bear should get increased protection under the Endangered Species Act. A designation of "endangered" (rather than its current "threatened" status) would negate a Bush-era loophole that prevents the Act from protecting the polar bear from its very worst threat: greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.
Watch the video now -- but be warned, it's disturbing and graphic. Then learn more about the Center's long battle to save the polar bear, get more in The Telegraph and read an account of the incident by filmmaker Daniel J. Cox.

Settlement Reached to Protect Birds From Turbines

To reduce bird kills at the deadliest wind farm in North America for birds of prey, the California Attorney General's Office this week announced a settlement agreement with the largest energy company at Altamont Pass in the San Francisco Bay Area. Turbines at Altamont annually kill massive numbers of hawks, burrowing owls, falcons, golden eagles and other raptors. Now, 40 percent of Altamont turbines will be "repowered," replacing old technology with fewer, more efficient turbines by 2015. New turbines will be sited in less risky areas for birds, according to scientific guidelines. Because bird kills will likely continue even after repowering, the company will make mitigation payments to local land-protection agencies to protect nearby raptor habitat.

Although the Center for Biological Diversity didn't sign this agreement, our efforts contributed to the outcome, and the settlement includes many measures we've advocated for. We led appeals of Altamont permits and sued energy companies for violating wildlife-protection laws. A 2007 settlement that we opposed was supposed to reduce bird deaths by half -- and that's clearly failed: Raptor fatality rates at Altamont have actually increased significantly.

The new repowering agreement is a positive step, but unfortunately it covers fewer than half the turbines. The Center will continue to watchdog Altamont and advocate for the best bird protection possible.
Read more in the San Jose Mercury News and learn about the Center's campaign to protect birds of prey at Altamont.

20,000-plus Pledge to Boycott Bluefin Tuna

Within a week of the campaign's launch, more than 20,000 people have signed on to the Center for Biological Diversity's bluefin boycott to help save the bluefin tuna from extinction. Specifically, consumers from all 50 U.S. states and 91 other countries have signed our pledge to boycott sushi restaurants with bluefin tuna on the menu. That's a crucial show of support for saving this magnificent fish from further decline due to overfishing, which has already depleted the western Atlantic bluefin by 80 percent since 1970. Yet high market prices (a single bluefin sold for $177,000 this year) still fuel rampant illegal and unreported fishing -- and the international community has so far ignored the need to impose stricter bluefin fishing quotas. The National Marine Fisheries Service this fall announced it's considering the Atlantic bluefin tuna for Endangered Species Act protection, in response to a Center petition.

Our boycott, launched Nov. 30, also calls on chefs and restaurant owners to stop serving this highly imperiled fish. Said Center attorney Catherine Kilduff, "Together, consumers and restaurant owners have a real chance to drastically reduce demand for this imperiled fish and keep it from slipping into oblivion."
Get more from EIN Press Wire. Then sign our pledge, visit (and share) our Bluefin Boycott website and Facebook page, and take further steps with our brand-new Bluefin Boycott Take-action Toolbox.


In Historic Low, Interior Pushes Congress to Delist Wolves

For the first time ever in the 40-year history of the Endangered Species Act, a U.S. interior secretary (Ken Salazar) has taken the extraordinary step of encouraging Congress to overrule the courts and the Endangered Species Act by legislatively taking wolves off the endangered species list. This comes in the face of multiple court orders striking down Salazar's previous flawed decisions to strip federal protection from endangered wolves. This is the first administration, bar none, to ask Congress to completely politicize the fate of an endangered species.

Salazar's primary targets are the northern Rockies and Great Lakes wolf populations, but bills already introduced in Congress would strip protection from the Mexican gray wolf, too, even though it's down to just 42 wild wolves and two breeding pairs. The Mexican gray wolf is far closer to extinction than recovery. Nonetheless, in a surprising and disheartening move this week, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission announced it's pushing to keep the Mexican wolf part of any delisting legislation -- claiming that despite its history of supporting the killing of wolves, the Commission can better recover them than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Center has vigorously defended gray wolves for more than 20 years, ever since we first sued the feds to get Mexican gray wolves out of the zoo and into the wild. In 2011 we'll be ramping up efforts to beat back Salazar's plans and delisting legislation, pushing for a long-overdue nationwide wolf recovery plan, fixing the flagging Mexican wolf recovery program and stopping the killing of wolves in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes.

Read more in The Washington Post and Arizona Daily Star, watch this KRWG News video, and take action for wolves. Then please consider making a year-end donation to protect gray wolves.