Lawsuit Seeks to Protect Monarchs Under Endangered Species Act [View all]

WASHINGTON - Two conservation groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and Center for Food Safety, today sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force officials to set a binding date to finalize federal protections for monarch butterflies under the Endangered Species Act.

The monarch was proposed for protection in December 2024, making the final listing due in December 2025. The groups argue the delay increases extinction risk for the nationally beloved pollinator.

“Comprehensive protections are urgently needed to ensure a future for these migratory wonders,” said Tierra Curry, endangered species co-director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Monarchs unite us and it’s disgraceful that their future is being sacrificed to political nonsense.”

Instead of issuing the final listing at the end of 2025, Trump officials delayed the decision as a “long-term action,” with no definitive date for issuance provided. The federal assessment of the monarch’s status found that in the next 60 years western migratory monarchs have up to a 99% chance of going extinct and eastern monarchs have up to a 74% chance.

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/lawsuit-seeks-to-protect-monarchs-under-endangered-species-act