America’s wolves need our help!

America’s wolves were nearly eradicated in the 20th century. Now, after a remarkable recovery in parts of the country, our wolves are once again in serious danger. 

 In Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies
On March 6th, 2009, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar approved the Bush Administration’s discredited plan to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Idaho and Montana — a decision that could lead to the deaths of more than 1,000 wolves! Take action now to save wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies…

In Alaska
More than 1,000 wolves in Alaska have been killed by aerial gunning since 2003, and state officials are pushing to kill even more wolves this year using aerial gunning, poison gas and snares. Take action now to save wolves in Alaska… 

In the Southwest
Misinformation and anti-wolf sentiment runs high, with the few remaining wolves in Arizona and New Mexico at risk of extinction. With only around 50 Mexican wolves — and just two breeding pairs — left in the wild, we need sensible, science-based wolf management to ensure the “lobo” will survive — and thrive — in the wilds of the Southwest. Take action to save wolves in the Southwest… 

Defenders of Wildlife continues the fight to promote common sense wolf management, working with federal and state officials and private land-owners to ensure that science — not politics — guides decision-making about the future of these wild American icons.

Defenders of Wildlife is going to court to save these whales, but we need your help to beat Alaska’s lawyers and their allies.

Please make a tax-deductible donation to support our court battle to ensure that Cook Inlet belugas have the federal protections they need to survive.

Previous unregulated hunting, pollution and climate change may have all contributed to the decline of Cook Inlet belugas, but new federal protections offer these amazing marine mammals a lifeline of hope.

Don’t let Alaska officials doom the Cook Inlet beluga to extinction. Please donate now to support our whale-saving legal advocacy.

The Cook Inlet beluga’s survival as a species is at stake. Please help us raise $35,000 by the end of the week to help support our court fight.

During the two years leading up NOAA’s announcement, Defenders’ supporters sent more than 80,000 messages urging federal officials to take action to protect Cook Inlet belugas, with more than 10,000 Defenders’ activists contacting the agency in just the month leading up to this decision!

This potentially life-saving victory is now at risk, as Alaska’s lawyers move to overturn these crucial protections.

Help save Cook Inlet belugas. Donate now to support our court fight for these whales.

To ensure that these whales get the species-saving protections they need, we’ll bring to bear the full power of our legal expertise – expertise that recently helped restore life-saving protections for wolves in the Northern Rockies. But we’ll need your support to win, friend.

Please donate today to help us save Cook Inlet belugas.

Alaska’s lawyers are lined up against protections for these wonderful creatures. But with your help, we can save the Cook Inlet beluga from extinction. Please make your tax-deductible contribution today.

Respectfully,

Rodger Schlickeisen President Defenders of Wildlife

P.S. Alaska’s lawsuit poses an imminent threat to the continued survival of this species. Please make a secure donation online right now or call 1-800-385-9712 to contribute by phone.

In 2008, Defenders supporters fought for and won Endangered Species Act protections for the Cook Inlet beluga whale. But now the state of Alaska is seeking to overturn these hard-fought and much-needed protections for these rare whales.

Please make a compassionate donation to support our court fight to save Cook Inlet beluga whales from extinction and protect other imperiled wildlife.

The full resources of the State of Alaska are behind efforts to overturn protections for these rare whales. Please forward this message, and help us raise $35,000 to by August 20th to help us go to court now to save these whales.

China is one of the world’s largest fur suppliers, and much of that fur ends up on store shelves in North America. And as we now know, Chinese companies have been known to deliberately mislabel cat and dog fur as “Asian jackal,” “rabbit,” or “raccoon” in order to fool consumers. Every fur-trimmed collar or other fur item from China, regardless of what kind of animal is slaughtered to manufacture it, is the product of cruelty on a truly massive scale. And we must fight to end this abuse!

Please make an urgently needed donation to PETA today to support our vital efforts to stop the horrific slaughter of cats, dogs, and other animals like those in China.

Through exposing the findings of difficult investigations like the one I told you of last week and through decades of relentless campaigning, PETA has saved many thousands of rabbits, dogs, cats, and other animals by convincing consumers and corporations to reject all fur. We’ve successfully persuaded some of the world’s leading designers and retailers—including Ann Taylor, Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger—to adopt permanent no-fur policies, and we’ve done such a good job of making fur synonymous with suffering that fur prices have seen record lows.

While we’ve accomplished much, the wholesale slaughter of so many animals for their fur in China is not going away. To help these animals, we must educate consumers, corporations, and even governments about the pain that goes into every piece of fur trim and every fur cat toy produced in China. That is only part of our work, but it is a vital part.

Please contribute to our work for dogs, cats, and all other animals by making a special gift today.

On behalf of all animals, especially those confined and killed for their skins in all parts of the world, thank you.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. With the fall fashion season just around the corner, we need to do everything that we can to make sure that designers, retailers, and consumers know the horrific extent of the animal suffering that takes place on fur farms in China and around the world. Please make a special online donation right now.

They’re BACK …

The same company that just brought you the most catastrophic oil spill in American history is now planning a risky new project that would use untested drilling technology in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea — the heart of America’s polar bear habitat.

BP’s so-called Liberty Project would use the biggest rig in the world — propped up by a manmade gravel island three miles from shore – to drill up to eight miles horizontally, exposing pipes to the same kind of explosive “gas kicks” that led to the blowout in the Gulf.

In other words, this latest BP project is a disaster waiting to happen!

Please help stop it by signing this urgent Petition of Protest to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

You might have thought BP would lay low after the Gulf disaster: focusing on the cleanup effort and repairing its dismal environmental record.

Instead, the company is planning to begin drilling this fall in one of the two Polar Bear Seas that are home to HALF of our nation’s polar bears.

Let me share a few facts about BP’s Liberty Project:

• Even though it’s three miles offshore, this project is NOT subject to President Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic! That’s because the operation is built on a 31-acre manmade gravel island. In other words, BP is getting a free pass based on a technicality.
• BP is prepared to drill up to eight miles horizontally in search of oil, even though this type of drilling is even more prone to gas kicks like the one that caused the huge blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. In order to drill these unprecedented wells, BP has commissioned the building of the largest drilling rig in the world!
• Shockingly, BP was allowed to write its own environmental assessment and emergency response plan for the Liberty Project, just like it did in the Gulf. And we know what happened there.

The Obama Administration needs to make clear that the days of BP running the show are over.

Tell Secretary Salazar to stop the Liberty Project immediately by denying BP’s application to drill. He is unlikely to do that unless he hears a groundswell of public opposition — starting with you.

BP’s horrendous environmental record is well documented. It is already responsible for the 2010 Gulf disaster, the 2006 oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope (the largest oil spill to date in the region) and the 2005 Texas City explosion that killed 15 workers and injured 170 more.

We can’t afford a repeat performance in the Arctic. High winds, freezing temperatures and dangerous sea ice could make cleanup impossible. The nearest Coast Guard station is over 1,000 miles away, and much of the oil spill response equipment on-site is more than two decades old!

Tell Secretary Salazar to prevent a disaster on ice by saying No to BP.

Sincerely,

Peter Lehner
Executive Director
Natural Resources Defense Council