A Birthday Message -- Here's to Your Victories

Sixty-one years ago today, Defenders of Wildlife was born.

As Defenders celebrates our birthday, we’re reminded that it’s really a celebration of people like you. The fact is, you made these victories happen -- just last week, you helped score big victories for Alaska wolves and Yellowstone bison.

Here are just a few recent victories we have to celebrate because of you:

Your support helped us…

Gray Wolf Howling (Photo: USFWS)

Save Alaska’s voice by helping to defeat Governor Sarah Palin’s legislation that would have cancelled a vote this summer on the state’s brutal aerial wolf hunting program -- a program that Alaskans have voted down twice before.
Bison (Photo: National Park Service, D.A. Buehler)

Give bison a break in Montana. More than 50,000 activists like you wrote messages to Montana tourism officials expressing outrage over the senseless slaughter of bison outside Yellowstone National Park. Last week, Governor Brian Schweitzer announced a deal to create a much-needed winter corridor for these icons of the American West.
Black-Footed Ferret (Photo: National Park Service)

Rally for ranchers like Larry and Bette Haverfield in Kansas. More than 16,000 activists like you spoke out to support efforts to return the once-thought-to-be-extinct black-footed ferret to their land. And last December, the Fish & Wildlife Service came through, releasing the first black-footed ferrets to be seen on the Kansas prairie in 50 years.
Tundra Swan (Photo: USFWS)

Protect the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Defenders rallied our conservation partners and local residents to save the Refuge, home to snow geese, tundra swans and the world’s only wild population of red wolves. Thanks to this near constant pressure, the U.S. Navy abandoned plans to build a harmful landing field near this important refuge.

As we celebrate these achievements, we’re also looking forward. Our wildlife faces some pretty daunting challenges -- and we’re ready to tackle them with you by our side.

We’ll continue our 35-year fight to ensure the long-term survival of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone region and beyond. And our biggest challenge will be addressing global warming and its impacts on our wildlife.

Thanks to you, we’ve been there for our wildlife and wild places -- and with your help, we’ll continue to be there well into the future.

Rodger Schlickeisen, President (c)Daniel J. Cox/www.naturalexpos

Sincerely,

Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife