Don't Blast a Mine Into El Jefe's Homeland
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- the agency tasked with protecting and preserving endangered species in the United States -- just gave approval for a foreign mining company to blast the ground right out from beneath the paws of "El Jefe," the only known wild jaguar in the country.
The Rosemont copper mine would carve a mile-wide, 3,000-foot-deep open pit in the heart of the jaguar's home territory near Tucson, Ariz. and bury thousands of acres of surrounding land beneath more than a billion tons of toxic waste. It will destroy El Jefe's home and hurt several other endangered species in the area.
Documents show that this horrifying decision flies in the face of what the Service's own scientists recommend. It is part of a distressingly familiar pattern of the Service caving to political pressure at the expense of our native wildlife.
Take action -- let Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe know that the decision to allow the destruction of El Jefe's home is unacceptable.
Dear Director Ashe,
I'm writing to express my utter dismay and outrage at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to allow a foreign mining corporation to destroy the home habitat of the
only know wild jaguar in the United States. It is horrifying that the very agency tasked with protecting our native wildlife would allow Rosemont Copper to blast
a mile-wide, 3,000-foot-deep open pit right in the middle of the jaguar's home territory near and bury thousands of acres of surrounding public land beneath
1.2 billion tons of toxic mine waste. This is a clear violation of your agency's moral and legal duty to protect endangered species. It is yet another in a long line of decisions by the Service that visibly prioritize politics over the preservation of our most imperiled native wildlife.
[Your comment will be added here]
Even the Service's own scientists have made it clear that the harms to El Jefe's habitat from this mine are unacceptable.
Please do the right thing for jaguar recovery and protect El Jefe by immediately withdrawing the Service's approval of the Rosemont Mine.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
