Fwd: Stop the devastating cuts to wildlife

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jamie Rappaport Clark, Defenders of Wildlife <defenders@mail.defenders.org>
Date: 2011/11/2
Subject: Stop the devastating cuts to wildlife

Don't Let the Budget Axe Swing on Wildlife Slashing wildlife protections could harm America's struggling polar bears. Tell Congress to keep America's wildlife and wild places off the chopping block.  Share on Facebook Dear Wildlife Supporter, Congress is preparing to sacrifice sea turtles, polar bears and hundreds of other struggling species -- all in the name of budget austerity. They're swinging the budget axe directly at our national treasures. Take action now -- tell Congress to stand up for wildlife and keep America's treasures off the chopping block. Congress is now formulating a comprehensive spending bill for the federal government -- and it's not looking good for our wildlife. The House of Representatives has slashed funding for the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, denying threatened and endangered sea turtles vital habitat protections and inching these ancient seafarers even closer to extinction. Congress is considering a 20% cut to programs that protect hundreds of threatened and endangered species -- animals like America's threatened polar bears. Without help, these beloved bears could disappear from our country by 2050. The House is considering significant cuts to the already underfunded National Wildlife Refuge System -- a move that would threaten the survival of rare Sonoran pronghorns and hundreds of other species. We need to ensure that the budget axe doesn't swing on our nation's most vulnerable wildlife and wild places. Tell Congress not to short change our wildlife. Tell your elected officials that any comprehensive federal spending bill should be free of anti-wildlife provisions. Slashing vital programs that protect our wildlife and wild places is a terrible idea. These cuts will not only affect a sector of the economy that brings in $821 billion each year and employs hundreds of thousands of people, but they will also bring more drastic and expensive regulations in the future to save our precious resources. Simply put: Investments in wildlife conservation are good for our economy and our natural heritage. That's why we've launched an emergency campaign to stop these terrible cuts to wildlife conservation. Please speak out now. Urge Congress to stand up for America's wildlife and wild places and keep conservation off the chopping block. Wildlife Supporter, this week, we've started an all-out blitz to stop these dangerous attacks on our wildlife running ads on Capitol Hill, bringing wildlife experts to Congress to persuade against these harmful cuts, reaching out to news outlets in key Congressional districts across the nation and much, much more. Now we need your voice to urge your elected officials to keep our natural treasures off the chopping block. Please take action now. Thank you for all you do to protect our wildlife and wild places. Jamie Rappaport Clark President Defenders of Wildlife P.S. Please take action today. Then forward this message on to three friends and post this message to Facebook. Together we can make a difference for our wildlife and wild places.

© Copyright 2011, Defenders of Wildlife Defenders of Wildlife is a national, nonprofit membership organization dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities. Defenders of Wildlife can be contacted at: 1130 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036