Environmental Groups Seek Protection for Monarch Butterflies

As the monarch butterfly population continues to decline in the United States, two environmental groups have taken action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force the agency to make a decision offering federal protection of the species.

On Jan. 4, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety filed a notice of intent to sue over the federal government’s failure to respond within the 12-month deadline to a 2014 petition to deem the monarchs as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. — Charlotte Wray