Tell the feds: Slow ships save whales

 

No. 1,347, April 30, 2026

Speak Out to Protect Whales From Ship Strikes Whales are dying at alarming rates along the West Coast. Dozens have been found dead off California, Oregon, and Washington in recent weeks, and the count is still rising. According to a new study focusing on the San Francisco Bay, nearly 1 in every 5 gray whales entering the bay dies — and more than 40% of the time, ship strikes are the cause. Limiting vessel speeds in key whale habitat to below 10 knots (roughly 11.5 miles per hour) is a tried-and-true way to reduce tragic whale deaths and injuries, especially for mothers and calves, who are at greater risk from ships because they spend a lot of time near the ocean's surface. Join the call for whale-safe ship speeds: Urge NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Coast Guard to require vessel speed limits where whales are most likely to be.

Northwest Wolf Counts Are Up — but So Are Deaths Wolves are increasing in Washington and Oregon, new numbers from state agencies show. Washington’s wolf population increased by about 17% in 2025 and Oregon’s by 13%; the state tallies were up to 270 and 230, respectively.   The bad news: A lot of wolves in both states were killed by people last year, both legally and illegally. Oregon saw 39 wolf killings — a 77% increase over the 22 human-caused deaths in 2024. In Washington people killed 25 wolves — fewer than the year before, thankfully — but overall wolf deaths increased.   “We’re still seeing too many wolves being killed, whether by government action or by poaching,” said Center for Biological Diversity wolf advocate Amaroq Weiss.   The Center will keep standing up for wolves on the West Coast and beyond, but we need you with us. Help by giving to our Future for the Wild Fund.

Mussel Habitat Protected Across 17 States Following our litigation the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just protected 3,814 river miles for four species of freshwater mussels in states from Minnesota to New York and Alabama to Virginia. The colorfully named mussels — snuffbox, spectaclecase, sheepnose, and rayed bean — need clean, flowing rivers to survive.   “I’m thrilled that these mussels and their rivers are getting protection,” said Noah Greenwald, endangered species codirector at the Center. “Mussels are the unsung heroes of clean water, who tirelessly filter millions of gallons every day.”   The eastern United States has more freshwater mussel species than anywhere in the world but has already lost more than 23 to pollution, dams, and development.

In Court to Challenge a Big Bend Border Wall The Center and allies just sued the Department of Homeland Security for waiving dozens of laws — without congressional approval — to fast-track border-wall construction through Texas’ Big Bend region. A wall would sever public access to the Rio Grande and split populations of wildlife like black bears, bighorns, and Carmen Mountains white-tailed deer, leaving them isolated and vulnerable to decline.   “The department has unconstitutionally gutted our nation’s bedrock environmental laws to build a wildlife-killing wall that would permanently lock away the Rio Grande,” said the Center’s Laiken Jordahl. “They’re trying to gouge a wound that will never heal into one of America’s most beautiful wild places.”

Revelator: Can Animals Get PTSD? The science on PTSD in wild animals is a rapidly growing field: How do we detect and treat post-trauma in our wild friends? And how can we prevent it?   In the latest installment of the “Ask Dr. Green” column, The Revelator’s resident psychologist addresses these questions and more.   If you haven’t yet, make sure you’re subscribed to The Revelator’s free weekly newsletter.

Suing to Help Salamander Mussels, Clear Lake Hitch This week the Center sued over two water-dwelling species, a mussel and a fish, whose protection the Trump administration has failed to act on over the past year.   Salamander mussels live in the Great Lakes, the Midwest, and Appalachia and got their name from the mudpuppy salamanders who host their larvae; they’re the only known mussel to use a host that’s not a fish to facilitate their reproduction. Clear Lake hitch live only in Lake County, California, and have traditionally been a staple food and cultural touchstone for the region’s Pomo people, who call them “chi.”   In 2025 the Trump administration chose not to protect even a single species under the Endangered Species Act — the first year no animal or plant has been newly listed since 1981.

That's Wild: Human Necropolis, Bee Megalopolis A new study in the journal Apidologie has found one of the largest-known U.S. clusters of ground-nesting bees beneath a cemetery in Ithaca, New York — about 5.6 million. Researchers from Cornell University conducted the study in 2023, when they collected a number of Andrena regularis bees from the graveyard area and extrapolated based on the data.   About 98% of bee species in the United States are what’s called “solitary” bees, meaning they don’t live in hives. Solitary bees like A. regularis don’t get enough attention, said one of the scientists; the study points to the importance of cemeteries as habitat for them. Have a friend who'd like this email? Forward it.

Follow Us Center for Biological Diversity | Saving Life on Earth   Donate now to support the Center's work.   Photo credits: Gray whales courtesy NOAA Fisheries; wolf courtesy Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife; snuffbox mussel by Dick Biggins/USFWS; bighorn sheep by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS, black bear cub by Courtney Celley/USFWS, white-tailed deer by Liz Julian/USFWS; art by John Platt/The Revelator; Clear Lake hitch by Natoma Gardner/Wikimedia Commons; Andrena regularis by Allan Smith-Pardo/Bees of the United States USDA APHIS PPQ.   View our privacy policy. Center for Biological Diversity P.O. Box 710 Tucson, AZ 85702 United States 0-0-0-0