With CREDO funding, Defenders of Wildlife continue to be the voice for the animals that cannot speak for themselves.

Up to a million species are facing extinction – some within the next decade – unless we take immediate action to save them. Thankfully, our grantee partners at Defenders of Wildlife work tirelessly to identify and implement innovative solutions to protect endangered species and their habitat.

In December 2022, CREDO members voted to donate $33,125 to help Defenders’ scientists, lawyers, advocates and activists protect wildlife in courtrooms and in communities across the nation. 

Powered in part by the generosity of CREDO and our members, Defenders of Wildlife had some recent victories and launched some great new initiatives. Here’s a quick report on how your donations are making an impact from our friends at Defenders:

Recent Victories

Since December 2022, Defenders has had several victories and for wildlife, enabled and assisted by the unrestricted funds granted by CREDO:

• Our Red Wolf Recovery program has celebrated the arrival of a new litter of red wolf puppies born in the wild, three females and two males. As of May 2023, this brings the Milltail Pack’s numbers up to 13 wolves. Thanks to Defenders’ legal action that compelled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to release more red wolves into the wild, the wild population now stands to quadruple in just two years.
• In April, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife and the Coastal Conservation League, obtained a major win for threatened red knots. The endangered bird arrives in South Carolina to feed on newly spawned horseshoe crab eggs in the spring, essentially doubling their body weight to survive the grueling migration. The District Court’s order enacts restrictions on horseshoe crab harvest to ensure the protection of the bird’s food source.
• Also in April, Defenders and its allies reached a settlement with the Bureau of Land Management, which will no longer allow large-scale logging of pinyon-juniper forests in the Southwest that are critical for pinyon jays and other wildlife.

New Initiatives

Defenders is always opening new cases and projects to defend threatened wildlife and their habitats. Since we received the CREDO grant, we have:

• Stopped a bill in the Washington state legislature that would delist the gray wolf on the state Endangered Species Act;
• Submitted comments for the Montana State Grizzly Bear Management Plan and Colorado Wolf Management and Reintroduction Plan drafts;
• Hosted in-person workshops on renewable energy in New Mexico, North Carolina, and Wyoming;
• Published multiple reports, videos, print ads, and blog posts to spread awareness of the biodiversity crisis and celebrate the 50th year of the Endangered Species Act; and
• Launched a TikTok channel, as more than 20% of people (30% of millennials) currently get their news from TikTok. 

If you’d like to learn more or get involved with Defenders of Wildlife, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.