This alert went unheeded by President Biden and USFWS! Learn more.

A catastrophic expansion of hunting and sport fishing across 90 national wildlife refuges has just been proposed and is open for public comment! This plan would be an extraordinary change for the worse that would result in countless deaths, transform the nature of these beloved refuges, and potentially threaten endangered species. Please join us in urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to withdraw this terrible proposed rule change.

Since the first national wildlife refuge was created in Florida in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System has been expanded to protect millions of acres of land and water across the nation. These refuges now provide homes to animals from hundreds of species, including those who are endangered and threatened, and they draw millions of visitors each year.

These refuges were created to be havens for wild animals, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is proposing a rule that would expand hunting and fishing of multiple species across 2.1 million acres at 90 national wildlife refuges — including seven that are currently closed to hunting and fishing — and at one national fish hatchery.

Countless animals at dozens of refuges across the country will be harmed by this change, including at the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota; Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana; Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge, Florida; National Elk Refuge, Wyoming.

Hunting is bad for any number of reasons. Not only does it take the lives of individuals, but it deprives other animals of their friends and family members. It is excruciating, and the pain is often prolonged as time passes between when the hunters first injure the animals and when they die. Often hunters will abandon animals after they have been injured. For example, a South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks biologist estimated that 3 million wounded ducks go unretrieved every year. Even if the animals survive (temporarily), they may be maimed and left to die of predation or starvation.

The Trump administration seems to have set this change in motion, and the USFWS will follow through unless directed otherwise. We must act urgently to stop this unethical and unacceptable hunting expansion.

This alert went unheeded by President Biden and USFWS! Learn more.