Investigate the troubling payments that threaten the Florida panther

32,936

Supporters spoke up in this action

Delivery to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland

Action ended on November 3, 2023

What Happens Next

Thank you to all who took action! We’re grateful for your support.

What Was At Stake

The 120 to 230 Florida panthers left in the world are hanging on by a thread as they face consistent habitat destruction and lack healthy amounts of genetic diversity. And due to unchecked suburban sprawl pushing more cars onto more roads in panther habitat, a panther is killed by motorists once every three weeks. Despite this, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — the agency charged with protecting endangered wildlife — is taking payments from landowners who are seeking permits to build massive developments and mines in habitat critical to the panther’s continued survival.

Yes, you read that right: landowners are paying staff costs at the very USFWS office that is reviewing their permit application. It doesn’t take an ethicist to determine that this is not an acceptable arrangement for a government agency tasked with implementing the Endangered Species Act. We need answers and action to make sure the Florida panther isn’t driven to extinction because of unethical financial dealings. Join us in urging Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to launch an investigation into the USFWS’ concerning arrangement.

The landowners seek to destroy panther habitat to build sand and gravel mines, golf courses, and many new roads — even though wildlife experts have determined that the area should be preserved at all costs to maintain the panther population. The USFWS has the ability to deny the permits if the agency determines the developments threaten the panther — which it clearly does in this case.

But how are we to trust that the USFWS is acting in the best interest of the panther if the agency is taking payments from landowners who will profit from the panther’s losses? Until we get to the bottom of the concerning payments, we won’t have any confidence that the USFWS is using an evidence-based process to determine what the panther needs.

The Florida panther, once thought to be extinct, has persevered in the face of habitat destruction and neglect from government agencies tasked with protecting it — we cannot let that perseverance go to waste. Please join us in fighting for the Florida panther’s survival by calling on Secretary Haaland to thoroughly investigate this matter.

A Florida panther at White Oak Conservation Center
A Florida panther at White Oak Conservation Center. (Frans Lanting / National Geographic)

Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.