SALAZAR IS A GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT (geddit?)

Dear Richard, Wolverines are just one of 250 species that urgently need your help. Days after endorsing the killing of more wolves, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has added the wolverine to his hit list in the war on endangered species. With just 300 of the animals left, scientists predict wolverines will disappear from the United States unless something is done right now to save them. But just yesterday, Salazar refused to give them federal protection on the Endangered Species list. Please help the Center for Biological Diversity save the wolverine and stop Salazar's war on wildlife by donating generously to our Endangered Species Action Fund today. A Center donor will triple-match any gift received by Dec. 31, so your gift will be worth three times as much this year-end. Listing a species as "endangered" makes killing it illegal, requires that habitat reserves essential to its recovery be designated and protected, and makes federal restoration money available. It puts conservation agencies and scientists in charge of the wolverine’s future, not loggers and developers. And it works: Species put on the endangered list are far less likely to go extinct and far more likely to recover than species left waiting without protection. The Center successfully sued the Bush government in 2008 for refusing to help wolverines, handing the Obama administration a great opportunity to reverse course and save the species. But yesterday -- just as he did with wolves, grizzlies and polar bears -- Salazar instead repeated the anti-environmental policies of the Bush administration, dismissing federal scientists who rate threats to the wolverine as "high magnitude." Unfortunately, the wolverine is not the only species under attack. Just last month, Salazar used the same reasoning to deny protection to the Pacific fisher, Rio Grande cutthroat trout, sage grouse and 250 other species spiraling toward extinction. Refusing protection on political grounds will commit hundreds of species to oblivion -- unless the Center, our supporters and our allies take swift legal action to stop Salazar's war on wildlife. The Center is already in court challenging his refusal to protect hundreds of species. Now we need to use our unique combination of science and legal strategy to save the wolverine as well. Please help by making a donation today to our Endangered Species Action Fund. We have the best win rate in the environmental movement, succeeding in 93 percent of our legal cases and achieving real, on-the-ground protection for more than 500 imperiled plants and animals and more than 200 million acres of habitat. With your help we'll save the wolverine, Pacific fisher, gray wolf and all 250 imperiled species being denied the protection they need to survive and recover. Please join us by making a generous, tax-deductible donation to our Endangered Species Action Fund. If received by Dec. 31, your gift will be worth three times as much because a caring donor will triple-match every gift to the fund this year. Thanks so much for helping to stop the war on wildlife. Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity P.S. Here's a news story from today about our work to save the wolverine. Feds: Wolverines need protection but have to wait National Public Radio // December 14, 2010 HELENA, Mont. - The threat of climate change warrants classifying wolverines as threatened or endangered, but other species are in more imminent danger and will delay protection for the small, ferocious mammals, wildlife officials said Monday... That means the animals will not be added to the federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Instead, it will join the sage grouse, plains bison and hundreds of other species on a candidate species list awaiting federal protection. Wolverines need adequate spring snow cover to reproduce, but warmer winter temperatures are reducing the snow pack in the West, making climate change the "primary threat to the wolverine population," the report said. Environmental models project the wolverines' habitat will shrink by roughly a quarter by 2045 and nearly two-thirds by 2099, agency wildlife biologist Shawn Sartorius said. The length of time the wolverine remains on the candidate list depends on the species ahead of it and when funding would be available to add it to the endangered and threatened species list, Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Diane Katzenberger said. The wolverine is one of a handful species the federal government says needs protection because of the effects of climate change on habitat. Most recently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cited the loss of ice from climate change as a basis for proposing that ringed and bearded seals be listed as a threatened species. Conservation groups petitioned the federal government to protect the wolverine in 1995 and again in 2000. Two years ago, the agency found the wolverine was not eligible for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act because it did not constitute a distinct population segment. Conservationists sued, and last year the agency agreed to study the matter again. This time, the agency found the population within the contiguous U.S. was distinct and warranted protection.... Wolverine photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons/MatthiasKabel. 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