Help Protect Endangered Great Cats and Rare Canines
The clouded leopard, photo courtesy of WCS. |
Around the world, great cats and wild canines such as jaguars, clouded leopards and African wild dogs are declining drastically due to habitat loss, poaching, disease, and human-wildlife conflict.
In response, several concerned Members of Congress have introduced the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act (HR 1707) to provide crucial funding to international conservation efforts for seven feline and six canine species recognized as endangered or threatened under international law.
While the threats to these species vary - including poaching for their pelts or believed medicinal value and exposure to diseases introduced by domesticated species - the result is always the same. In all cases, habitat degradation and increasing interaction with human populations have resulted in these species' rapid decline. If we act now, we can help ensure the long-term survival of these extraordinary creatures in the wild.
Please sign this petition today to urge your Representative to cosponsor the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act! We owe it to future generations to protect these biologically important and magnificent animals.
Dear [your representative],
Please cosponsor HR 1707, the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act. As your constituent and someone concerned about the conservation of species around the globe, I urge you to support this critical legislation.
This bill will assist in the recovery and protection of 13 critically imperiled species beyond North America that are currently threatened by habitat loss, poaching, disease, pollution and human-wildlife conflict. This bill will sustain current conservation activities and allow for expansion of strategic measures to protect and restore threatened populations.
Similar to existing conservation funds for elephants, tigers and rhinos, great apes, and neotropical migratory birds the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act would authorize $5 million annually to implement conservation programs. These funds have an excellent record of building conservation partnerships and leveraging millions of dollars from private and other sources for projects that are critical to species conservation.
I hope you will join your colleagues in cosponsoring this very important piece of legislation.
Sincerely,
[your name]
