https://www.theguardian.com/us...n-endangered-species



Elephants and rhinos at increased risk of poaching due to Trump funding cuts, groups say

Trump administration has frozen funding for key conservation programs to protect vulnerable species

Oliver Milman
Wed 5 Mar 2025 12.27 EST

Environmentalists have urged the Trump administration to reverse its decision to cut off funding for key conservation work aimed at saving iconic at-risk species, including anti-poaching patrols for vulnerable rhinos and elephants.

International conservation grants administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have been frozen by Trump, throwing conservation non-profits around the world into disarray. These grants, amounting to tens of millions of dollars, help protect imperiled species in countries that lack the US’s financial muscle to combat threats such as poaching.

An environmental group, the Center for Biological Diversity, said it would sue the FWS if the funding isn’t restored. It said the money is vital for patrols safeguarding rhinos in Africa, which have suffered a 94% population decline over the past century, as well as efforts to reduce human-elephant conflict and help conserve species such as freshwater turtles and monarch butterflies.


“The Trump administration’s funding freeze for anti-poaching patrols and other international conservation work is maddening, heartbreaking and very illegal,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the center.

“These Fish and Wildlife Service funds help protect elephants, rhinos and other animals across the globe that Americans love. No one voted to sacrifice the world’s most iconic wildlife to satisfy some unelected billionaire’s reckless power trip.”

In a letter to the FWS, the center said that the funding halt violated the US Endangered Species Act, which requires the government to consider at-risk species in its decisions, and flouted proper agency procedure in rescinding funding. “This insanity has to stop or some of the world’s most endangered animals will die,” said Uhlemann.


The freeze on grants is part of a broader crackdown on US foreign aid by Trump and his billionaire backer Elon Musk. A judge has ordered the freeze to be reversed, although the administration has yet to comply with the directive.

In his previous term in office, Trump sought to weaken the Endangered Species Act and has set about trying to bypass the conservation law during his latest term. The president has demanded that a little-known committee, nicknamed “the God squad” due to its ability to decide if a species becomes extinct, help push through fossil fuel and logging projects in the US even if they doom a species.

Experts have said that the use of the committee in this way is likely illegal. A court case may now unfold over the stymying of FWS grants for international conservation, too.


Alongside illegal poaching, legal hunting tours in Africa are popular with some Americans, including Donald Trump Jr, who was pictured holding a severed elephant’s tail more than a decade ago.

The FWS was contacted for comment on the potential lawsuit.

https://biologicaldiversity.or...NDgwNi4xNzM0MzU3OTY0

For Immediate Release, March 5, 2025

Contact:

Sarah Uhlemann, (206) 327-2344, suhlemann@biologicaldiversity.org

Lawsuit Launched After Trump Freezes Funds for Rhino, Elephant Anti-Poaching Patrols

Broad Range of International Conservation Projects Hit By Halt in U.S. Support

WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity sent notice today of its intent to sue the Trump administration for abruptly cutting off funding to fight poaching and other international efforts to protect some of the world’s most beloved wildlife.

Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the funds support projects like anti-poaching patrols for rhinos, scientific research on elephant declines, and fighting trafficking in imperiled turtles in countries that lack the resources to protect species that the American people — through the highly popular U.S. Endangered Species Act — are dedicated to stopping from going extinct.

“The Trump administration’s funding freeze for anti-poaching patrols and other international conservation work is maddening, heartbreaking, and very illegal,” said Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the Center. “These Fish and Wildlife Service funds help protect elephants, rhinos and other animals across the globe that Americans love. No one voted to sacrifice the world’s most iconic wildlife to satisfy some unelected billionaire’s reckless power trip.”

The Service has reportedly halted tens of millions of dollars of foreign conservation funding and ordered grant recipients to stop work under their contracts. The abrupt stop to funding left numerous nonprofit organizations around the globe in disarray, unsure how to continue critical conservation work and forced to lay off staff.

Today’s legal notice points out that the Service’s funding freeze violates the Endangered Species Act because the agency did not consider how it would harm threatened species the projects support. The freeze also violates Constitutional separation of powers and longstanding laws requiring rational agency decision-making.

Several courts have already held the Trump administration’s similar freeze on USAID funding to be illegal and have ordered the administration to reinitiate payments. When the Trump administration did not resume funding, one court set an order for compliance last week. The Supreme Court paused that deadline and is now considering the issue.

“This insanity has to stop or some of the world’s most endangered animals will die,” said Uhlemann. “Trump and his unelected cronies are gleefully tearing apart the federal government without care for whom or what it harms. It’s careless, callous, and a violation of the laws that protect us all.”

Hahahahaha!

I LOVE it!

Hunting stops poaching, and those same idiots want to stop hunting!

It's always Trump, isn't it. Tired of the B.S. already. And why is it the U.S.'s responsibility to pour out cash for the protection of elephant and rhino? And I'm sure that Sarah Uhlemann has completely honest intentions, not. Not when big money is involved.

Don't give America a pass on hunting Africa.

USFW make their own rules as they go along.

Completely ignoring CITES!

To fix this -
1. Legalize the sale of ivory in a controlled manner.

2. Legalize the sale of rhino horn in a controlled manner.

3. Relook/reorganize CITES. It does do anything to help with habitat enhancement or illegal hunting. I suggest ending it all. Together. Let each. Country manage their own wildlife resources.

4. Charge photo safari participants the same rates as hunters. Photo tourists bring very little to the table other than jobs at camps to be pampered. You don’t see photo safaris in Alaska or Canada or most other places de to cost. Let the pictures pay their way.

Governments in the EU and North America think they know what is best for Africa. How has handing out millions of euros and dollars over the last 75 years helped? In most cases the money went to the kleptocrats in the governments or the parasites in USAID.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
To fix this -
1. Legalize the sale of ivory in a controlled manner.

2. Legalize the sale of rhino horn in a controlled manner.

3. Relook/reorganize CITES. It does do anything to help with habitat enhancement or illegal hunting. I suggest ending it all. Together. Let each. Country manage their own wildlife resources.

4. Charge photo safari participants the same rates as hunters. Photo tourists bring very little to the table other than jobs at camps to be pampered. You don’t see photo safaris in Alaska or Canada or most other places de to cost. Let the pictures pay their way.

Governments in the EU and North America think they know what is best for Africa. How has handing out millions of euros and dollars over the last 75 years helped? In most cases the money went to the kleptocrats in the governments or the parasites in USAID.

Well said, Ross; well said!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Don't give America a pass on hunting Africa.

USFW make their own rules as they go along.

Completely ignoring CITES!

Stand by as there will be some changes at USFW