U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service •

Monarch butterflies are on the rise but still endangered.

The list of endangered animal species is very long, and it seems like every day, another new species is put on the list. However, there are also animals which manage to have a good comeback and may be cut from the infamous list.

Recently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officially announced that the monarch butterfly population has increased by 255 percent after being protected in a special reserve in Mexico. Another report also claims that the manatee population in Florida is also on the rise for the second year in a row. This is why manatees are no longer on the endangered species list but on the threatened one.

When it comes to monarch butterflies, their situation has improved compared to last year when they populated only a 2.8-acre area in the reserve especially created for them. This year, they already occupy about 10 acres of the reserve which is a great improvement.

Seeing the monarch butterflies are truly endangered, authorities started planting milkweed last year. Milkweed is used by monarch butterflies for both food and shelter. Moreover, authorities asked homeowners to cut down on the use of insecticides to keep the risk for the butterflies to a minimum.

Although the population has seen an increase in numbers, it’s still a long way to go before they could reach their “usual” numbers. Back in the ‘90s, monarch butterflies were at their highest numbers. Since then, the population decreased by 90 percent. The main reason was the loss of habitat.

The habitat of monarch butterflies has been destroyed due to weather conditions and climate change as well because of heavy use of pesticides. Therefore, it is advised that farmers find more natural ways of protecting their crops, without harming the environment and insects or animals nearby.

Plus, as climate change is also an issue, researchers will be keeping an eye on changes happening to environments, which could be blamed on global warming. If CO2 emissions will indeed be cut as it was planned and promised in the climate talks happening in Paris, vegetation should recover, which means the natural habitat of monarch butterflies could be restored.

Image source: www.bing.com

A coalition of conservation and environmental organizations filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming that the agency hasn’t succeeded in developing a valid recovery plan for the endangered Mexican gray wolf. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Arizona and it is meant to obtain a court order for the development of such a recovery plan.

The lawsuit was filed against both U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well. The four nonprofit agencies that took action are Defenders of Wildlife, Center for Biological Diversity, Wolf Conservation Center and Endangered Wolf Center.

The original 1982 Mexican gray wolf recovery plan is far from complete and “later amendment of the plan is obviously required for its realistic completion,” authors of the plan stated.

83 Mexican gray wolves exist in the wild nowadays. Moreover, according to a news release provided by the Center for Biological Diversity, a 2012 draft recovery plan authored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists was abandoned. The Mexican gray wolf is included on the federal list of endangered species. It almost went extinct in 1980.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes it as the “smallest, rarest, southernmost and most genetically distinct subspecies of the North American gray wolf.”

In the meantime, a hunter who took a shot at a gray wolf after being surrounded by a pack in northeastern Washington on Oct. 30 was cleared of any wrongdoing by Washington Fish and Wildlife police who investigated the incident. After a previous encounter with several wolves, the hunter heard a noise in the brush, yelled to see if it was his hunting partner, but got no response. A black wolf appeared within 15 to 20 yards and approached him. The man shot at the wolf. He told officers he believed he hit it, but the wolf ran off. The name of the hunter is being withheld.

The Mexican gray wolf is the smallest species of gray wolf, and was made extinct in the Southwestern US by the 1970s. The species was reintroduced in the US in 1998, after being listed on the Endangered Species Act in 1976, with 11 wolves being released back into the wild. The Mexican wolf was once of religious significance to the Aztecs, for whom it is thought the species represented the sun.

Monarch Butterfly and Manatee Populations Rising

Environmental Groups File Lawsuit on Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery

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