NEW CBD APPEAL

Dear Richard, Stop the war on wolves and endangered species. Help save them today. Under the direction of Secretary Ken Salazar, the Department of the Interior is ramping up its war against endangered species. In the last month alone, the Interior Department denied protection to 251 of America's most imperiled species, promised to strip federal protection from grizzly bears, and -- for the first time in the 40-year history of the Endangered Species Act -- asked Congress to overrule scientists, the courts and the law itself by passing legislation to strip federal protection from gray wolves. Please help the Center for Biological Diversity stop Salazar's war against endangered species by donating generously to our Endangered Species Action Fund today. A generous donor will triple any amount received by December 31, so it's the best time to give as generously as you can. Between Salazar and the new Congress, we're facing the most aggressive assault on endangered species since the infamous days of Richard Pombo. But with your help, we can beat back the assault. The Pacific fisher, Rio Grande cutthroat trout, sage grouse and New England cottontail rabbit are all spiraling toward extinction. And they're not alone. Federal scientists have identified 251 species that will disappear unless they're soon protected under the Endangered Species Act. Yet with a cynical stroke of a pen, the Interior Department just refused to protect any of these species, saying it's working on “higher priorities.” What are the Interior Department's higher priorities? - Asking politicians to overrule federal judges and the law by passing a bill to create an open season on wolves by removing their Endangered Species Act protections. Not even President Bush or President Reagan went this far. - Approving new offshore oil drilling smack in the middle of the polar bear's protected critical habitat on Alaska's North Slope. - Following the Bush-era lead in suppressing science and denying protection to the imperiled Sacramento splittail and Arizona desert-nesting bald eagle. The Center will stop these attacks and save all 251 endangered species, but we can only do so with your financial help by the end of this year. Please donate as much as you can today to our special Endangered Species Action Fund. The Center has the best success rate in the environmental movement, winning 93 percent of our cases. With a no-nonsense attitude and a relentless passion for wildlife, our scientists, lawyers and activists work around the clock to win protections. Helping them this year-end is the best investment you can make to save our planet. Thanks in advance for your support, Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity P.S. A very generous donor has pledged to triple any gifts to our Endangered Species Action Fund received by December 31, so please give as generously as you can. This is a remarkable opportunity to increase the power of your giving and save wolves, bears and sage grouse at the same time. P.P.S. Here's an excerpt from a recent story about Salazar's anti-endangered-species agenda: Critics say Obama administration is lagging on protecting endangered species Los Angeles Times // November 29, 2010 WASHINGTON - Environmental groups are criticizing the Obama administration for what they say is a continuing backlog of plants and animals in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service says 251 species are candidates for endangered species protection, four more than a similar review last year found. Environmental groups say that shows the Obama administration has done little to improve on what they consider a dismal record on endangered species under President George W. Bush. Nearly two years after taking office, Obama has provided Endangered Species Act protection to 51 plants and animals, an average of 25 a year. By comparison, the Clinton administration protected an average of 65 species per year, and the Bush administration listed about eight species a year. "Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration is failing to provide prompt protection to wildlife desperately in need of protection," including the plains bison, sage grouse and hundreds of other species, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based group that has filed lawsuits seeking greater protection for those and other species. Greenwald said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has failed to correct a longtime "culture of delay and foot-dragging" at the Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the endangered species program.... Many of the species listed as candidates for protection have been waiting for such a designation for decades, including the Oregon spotted frog, found in three West Coast states, and the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, found in nine Midwest and Great Lakes states. The frog has been a candidate for the endangered species list since 1991, the snake since 1982.... At least 24 species have gone extinct after being designated as a candidate for protection, including the Louisiana prairie vole, Tacoma pocket gopher, San Gabriel Mountains blue butterfly, Sangre de Cristo peaclam from New Mexico and numerous Hawaiian invertebrates.... Mexican gray wolf photo (c) Robin Silver. This message was sent to richard@cfz.org.uk. When donating online to the Center for Biological Diversity, always confirm that the donation page is located at DemocracyinAction.org or BiologicalDiversity.org. Let us know if you'd like to change your email list preferences or stop receiving action alerts and newsletters from us. Center for Biological Diversity P.O. Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 1-866-357-3349 www.BiologicalDiversity.org