Environmentalists unhappy about cuts in international wildlife funding sued the Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday in a bid to find out more about what’s going on behind the scenes.
Reinforcing a Freedom of Information Act request filed Feb. 24, the Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit seeks to compel production of FWS documents dealing with “foreign conservation funding or grants.” The Fish and Wildlife Service has not yet divulged any requested document related to the reported funding freezes in programs aimed at protecting the exotic likes of elephants, rhinos and giraffes.
“With zero notice or transparency, the Trump administration yanked critical wildlife funds around the globe, shuttering poaching patrols and research projects and putting rare animals at grave risk,” Sarah Uhlemann, international director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
Uhlemann added that “these incredible creatures might eventually exist only in books unless we fight for them, so it’s doubly cruel for the Trump administration to hide public records about this devastating funding cut.”
