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Doctors Sound The Alarm As RFK Jr.’s Baseless Circumcision-Autism Claim Fuels Misinformation

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Saturday, October 11, 2025

This week’s Trump administration Cabinet meeting featured everything out of a medical professional’s nightmare. Confusion about what a placenta is by the man in charge of health in this country, more false claims about Tylenol’s link to autism and new untrue claims about circumcision, Tylenol and autism risk.Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made unfounded claims about the “link” between “early circumcision” and Tylenol use in babies and autism.In the Cabinet meeting, Kennedy said, “There’s two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism,” referring to the surgical procedure in baby boys in which the foreskin of the penis is removed. “It’s highly likely because they’re given Tylenol,” Kennedy continued, repeating the debunked claim that Tylenol use is linked to autism.When asked for comment, the Department of Health and Human Services pointed to Kennedy’s recent post on X, which said, “as usual, the mainstream media attacks me for something I didn’t say in order to distract from the truth of what I did say ... An August 2025 Preprints.org review by Patel et al. directly validates my point that the observed autism correlation in circumcised boys is best explained by acetaminophen exposure, not circumcision itself.”This is not the first time Kennedy has suggested Tylenol causes autism; just a few weeks ago, he said Tylenol use in pregnancy is linked to higher rates of autism (this is not true) and told pregnant people not to take it.“His continued obsession with autism is peculiar,” Dr. Mona Amin, a board-certified pediatrician in Florida and face behind the medical social media account @pedsdoctalk, told HuffPost via email.“Instead of chasing procedures and headlines, he should focus on advancing real research like genome and exome testing to better understand genetic and neurodevelopmental factors that play a much bigger role,” Amin said.Research shows that most autism cases are genetic, not caused by things like Tylenol or circumcision. Kennedy’s comments about circumcision and autism risk only create more confusion for new parents while also peddling ableist ideas. It’s flat-out dangerous and flat-out wrong. HuffPost spoke to pediatricians about Kennedy’s dangerous circumcision and Tylenol claims. Here’s what they said.“There is no solid data” behind his claims.“I’m highly concerned, like with most of his statements,” said Amin.“We can’t make bombastic claims when they’re not supported by credible evidence. There’s no solid data behind what he’s saying,” Amin added.Dr. Lauren Hughes, a board-certified pediatrician, owner of Bloom Pediatrics in Kansas and a medical communicator on social media, told HuffPost via email that she was first surprised that Kennedy had made this statement after so recently blaming Tylenol during pregnancy as a cause of autism. “My second thought was ‘He’s lying again,’ because there is no credible study saying there is double the risk of autism,” said Hughes.Kennedy’s post on X cites 2025 research that is “pre-print, not peer-reviewed,” said Amin. “The authors are real researchers, but the findings haven’t gone through independent scientific review yet,” Amin added.“Most evidence cited is observational or animal-based, which can’t establish cause and effect,” Amin said.This is important because studies need to account for things like environment and family genetics, added Amin. This research does not do that.In regard to a Danish study from 2015 that Kennedy refers to later on in his social media post, “this study never mentioned the use of Tylenol ... at all. Instead, they looked at pain related to circumcision in infancy causing autism,” Hughes said.“That study showed a weak association in certain subgroups, but it was based on tiny numbers and didn’t even track Tylenol use,” Amin explained. “Experts have since said the findings were more about statistical noise than cause and effect.” The 2015 study also did not control for “critical confounders” like genetics, family history or prenatal history, Hughes said. “These are all known risk factors for developing autism and should be adjusted for,” Hughes added.“Before accepting this as truth,” Amin said of Kennedy’s claims, “we need well-designed, peer-reviewed studies that control for confounding factors, use accurate exposure data and replicate findings across diverse populations. Until then, [the 2025] paper should be seen as hypothesis-generating, not practice-changing.”“These kinds of claims grab attention but not truth. And when public figures keep reaching for random connections, it spreads fear, not facts,” Amin added.Babies aren’t even always given Tylenol during or after circumcision.According to Amin, Kennedy’s claim that babies are given Tylenol for pain relief during circumcision “just doesn’t line up with reality.”“In most hospitals, newborns are soothed with oral sucrose [sugar water] or other comfort measures during the procedure, not Tylenol,” Amin added.For instance, according to their websites, both Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Kansas Health System give babies a local anesthetic and a pacifier dipped in sugar water.While some hospitals may give or prescribe babies Tylenol post-procedure, it is not an across-the-board rule.“This is very site-dependent — some [babies] get acetaminophen, some get sugar water or breast milk or directly breastfeed,” Dr. Elizabeth Meade, a pediatrician in Seattle and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told HuffPost via email.“And, if parents give Tylenol afterward, it’s usually a single dose. We can’t blame a one-time or two-time medication for a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference like autism,” Amin said.Bloomberg via Getty ImagesKennedy claimed children who go through "early circumcision" and are given Tylenol to soothe pain are at higher risk of developing autism, but Dr. Mona Amin said "there’s no proof that circumcision or Tylenol causes autism."Circumcision is a generally safe procedure that is not linked to autism.While Kennedy has since stressed that he is linking circumcision and Tylenol use to autism, and not circumcision alone, these kinds of statements only confuse caregivers who want to make the best decision for their babies.“Circumcision is a safe, commonly performed procedure, but as with any medical procedure, there are risks associated,” said Hughes.Risks include bleeding, infection, and too much or too little skin removal, according to Amin.Kennedy specifically referred to “early circumcision,” which is not a phrase Hughes uses — “I do not use the term ‘early circumcision’ and instead only call it circumcision.” Multiple sources, including the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, say circumcision is most commonly done within the first days or weeks of a baby’s life. “Early circumcision” is a bizarre way to categorize something that is commonly recommended early in a baby’s life. “It’s an elective procedure, not a medical requirement. With proper hygiene, being uncircumcised is completely healthy, too,” Amin added.Some cultures and groups of people find circumcision to be controversial, “and that’s understandable,” said Amin.“Parents should be able to make this decision based on their values and medical guidance without judgment. It’s a personal choice, not a moral or medical obligation,” she noted.It’s a parent’s choice whether or not to have their baby circumcised, but a fear of autism should not be a reason not to, said Hughes.Because, again, there is no proof that circumcision and Tylenol use are linked to a higher chance of developing autism.There is no proof that Tylenol causes autism.This is not the first time Kennedy has linked Tylenol use to autism, but there is no solid proof of a connection, experts told HuffPost again and again.“An extremely well done study was published in April of 2024 reviewing acetaminophen use in pregnancy,” said Hughes. (Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol.)Researchers evaluated roughly 2.5 million children and “after adjusting for sibling diagnosis, they found there was no associated link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders,” Hughes added.“The use of acetaminophen in childhood has not been robustly studied, but no data exists showing a causal link,” she said.“As a parent, I understand how confusing all this can feel. And as a clinician who walks families through these decisions every day, it’s frustrating to see misinformation replace genuine curiosity.”- Dr. Mona Amin, board-certified pediatrician in FloridaThe American Academy of Pediatrics says acetaminophen is safe for children when used as directed and discussed with a child’s pediatrician. “Acetaminophen remains the safest option for pain and fever during pregnancy and infancy when used as directed,” Amin added.Tylenol is commonly used to help control fevers in children and pregnant women, and having an untreated fever is dangerous. “Here’s what parents need to understand: The developing brain is affected far more by untreated high fevers or infections than by a single, properly dosed pain reliever,” Amin said. “The benefit of using Tylenol when truly needed outweighs any unproven theoretical risk,” noted Amin.Autism is complex, but research is ongoing.“Autism is complex. It’s not caused by one medication, one vaccine, or one parenting decision,” said Amin.For decades, scientists have been researching the cause of autism, Hughes added.“It is very, very important to state that no one wants to find the causes for autism more than pediatric health care providers,” Meade noted. “I say ‘causes’ very intentionally, because we know this is not a one-cause diagnosis, it is very multifactorial and complex.”“We will keep looking, and keep investigating, including looking into acetaminophen use — but the reality is that many large and well-done studies have shown absolutely no causal link at this point,” Meade said.“Research shows genetics play the biggest role — sometimes inherited from parents, sometimes through spontaneous gene changes that affect how the brain forms and communicates,” Amin said.“So, please, if you have a child with autism, do not think you did anything wrong. And know that the scientific community has not, nor will ever, forget about you,” Hughes said.Studies looking into environmental risk factors are ongoing, “but ‘environmental’ doesn’t mean things like Tylenol or vaccines. It refers to broad prenatal or early life influences like severe maternal infection during pregnancy, significant prematurity, or exposure to high levels of air pollution, lead, or pesticides,” Amin said.But, these environmental factors do not flat-out cause autism, and instead increase autism risk in combination with genetic predisposition, Amin said.YourSupportMakes The StoryYour SupportFuelsOur MissionYour SupportFuelsOur MissionJoin Those Who Make It PossibleHuffPost stands apart because we report for the people, not the powerful. Our journalism is fearless, inclusive, and unfiltered. Join the membership program and help strengthen news that puts people first.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.“As a parent, I understand how confusing all this can feel. And as a clinician who walks families through these decisions every day, it’s frustrating to see misinformation replace genuine curiosity,” Amin said.“We should be investing our energy into research, education and support for autistic individuals, not fighting baseless claims,” she added.

In yet another shocking statement, Kennedy doubled down on the not-true claim that Tylenol use, in this case after circumcision, is linked to autism.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made unfounded claims about the “link” between “early circumcision” and Tylenol use in babies and autism.

In the Cabinet meeting, Kennedy said, “There’s two studies that show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism,” referring to the surgical procedure in baby boys in which the foreskin of the penis is removed.

“It’s highly likely because they’re given Tylenol,” Kennedy continued, repeating the debunked claim that Tylenol use is linked to autism.

When asked for comment, the Department of Health and Human Services pointed to Kennedy’s recent post on X, which said, “as usual, the mainstream media attacks me for something I didn’t say in order to distract from the truth of what I did say ... An August 2025 Preprints.org review by Patel et al. directly validates my point that the observed autism correlation in circumcised boys is best explained by acetaminophen exposure, not circumcision itself.”

This is not the first time Kennedy has suggested Tylenol causes autism; just a few weeks ago, he said Tylenol use in pregnancy is linked to higher rates of autism (this is not true) and told pregnant people not to take it.

“His continued obsession with autism is peculiar,” Dr. Mona Amin, a board-certified pediatrician in Florida and face behind the medical social media account @pedsdoctalk, told HuffPost via email.

“Instead of chasing procedures and headlines, he should focus on advancing real research like genome and exome testing to better understand genetic and neurodevelopmental factors that play a much bigger role,” Amin said.

Research shows that most autism cases are genetic, not caused by things like Tylenol or circumcision.

Kennedy’s comments about circumcision and autism risk only create more confusion for new parents while also peddling ableist ideas. It’s flat-out dangerous and flat-out wrong.

HuffPost spoke to pediatricians about Kennedy’s dangerous circumcision and Tylenol claims. Here’s what they said.

“There is no solid data” behind his claims.

“I’m highly concerned, like with most of his statements,” said Amin.

“We can’t make bombastic claims when they’re not supported by credible evidence. There’s no solid data behind what he’s saying,” Amin added.

Dr. Lauren Hughes, a board-certified pediatrician, owner of Bloom Pediatrics in Kansas and a medical communicator on social media, told HuffPost via email that she was first surprised that Kennedy had made this statement after so recently blaming Tylenol during pregnancy as a cause of autism.

“My second thought was ‘He’s lying again,’ because there is no credible study saying there is double the risk of autism,” said Hughes.

Kennedy’s post on X cites 2025 research that is “pre-print, not peer-reviewed,” said Amin. “The authors are real researchers, but the findings haven’t gone through independent scientific review yet,” Amin added.

“Most evidence cited is observational or animal-based, which can’t establish cause and effect,” Amin said.

This is important because studies need to account for things like environment and family genetics, added Amin. This research does not do that.

In regard to a Danish study from 2015 that Kennedy refers to later on in his social media post, “this study never mentioned the use of Tylenol ... at all. Instead, they looked at pain related to circumcision in infancy causing autism,” Hughes said.

“That study showed a weak association in certain subgroups, but it was based on tiny numbers and didn’t even track Tylenol use,” Amin explained. “Experts have since said the findings were more about statistical noise than cause and effect.”

The 2015 study also did not control for “critical confounders” like genetics, family history or prenatal history, Hughes said. “These are all known risk factors for developing autism and should be adjusted for,” Hughes added.

“Before accepting this as truth,” Amin said of Kennedy’s claims, “we need well-designed, peer-reviewed studies that control for confounding factors, use accurate exposure data and replicate findings across diverse populations. Until then, [the 2025] paper should be seen as hypothesis-generating, not practice-changing.”

“These kinds of claims grab attention but not truth. And when public figures keep reaching for random connections, it spreads fear, not facts,” Amin added.

Babies aren’t even always given Tylenol during or after circumcision.

According to Amin, Kennedy’s claim that babies are given Tylenol for pain relief during circumcision “just doesn’t line up with reality.”

“In most hospitals, newborns are soothed with oral sucrose [sugar water] or other comfort measures during the procedure, not Tylenol,” Amin added.

For instance, according to their websites, both Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Kansas Health System give babies a local anesthetic and a pacifier dipped in sugar water.

While some hospitals may give or prescribe babies Tylenol post-procedure, it is not an across-the-board rule.

“This is very site-dependent — some [babies] get acetaminophen, some get sugar water or breast milk or directly breastfeed,” Dr. Elizabeth Meade, a pediatrician in Seattle and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, told HuffPost via email.

“And, if parents give Tylenol afterward, it’s usually a single dose. We can’t blame a one-time or two-time medication for a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference like autism,” Amin said.

Bloomberg via Getty Images

Kennedy claimed children who go through "early circumcision" and are given Tylenol to soothe pain are at higher risk of developing autism, but Dr. Mona Amin said "there’s no proof that circumcision or Tylenol causes autism."

**Circumcision is a generally safe procedure that is not linked to autism.**

While Kennedy has since stressed that he is linking circumcision and Tylenol use to autism, and not circumcision alone, these kinds of statements only confuse caregivers who want to make the best decision for their babies.

“Circumcision is a safe, commonly performed procedure, but as with any medical procedure, there are risks associated,” said Hughes.

Risks include bleeding, infection, and too much or too little skin removal, according to Amin.

Kennedy specifically referred to “early circumcision,” which is not a phrase Hughes uses — “I do not use the term ‘early circumcision’ and instead only call it circumcision.”

Multiple sources, including the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, say circumcision is most commonly done within the first days or weeks of a baby’s life. “Early circumcision” is a bizarre way to categorize something that is commonly recommended early in a baby’s life.

“It’s an elective procedure, not a medical requirement. With proper hygiene, being uncircumcised is completely healthy, too,” Amin added.

Some cultures and groups of people find circumcision to be controversial, “and that’s understandable,” said Amin.

“Parents should be able to make this decision based on their values and medical guidance without judgment. It’s a personal choice, not a moral or medical obligation,” she noted.

It’s a parent’s choice whether or not to have their baby circumcised, but a fear of autism should not be a reason not to, said Hughes.

Because, again, there is no proof that circumcision and Tylenol use are linked to a higher chance of developing autism.

There is no proof that Tylenol causes autism.

This is not the first time Kennedy has linked Tylenol use to autism, but there is no solid proof of a connection, experts told HuffPost again and again.

“An extremely well done study was published in April of 2024 reviewing acetaminophen use in pregnancy,” said Hughes. (Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol.)

Researchers evaluated roughly 2.5 million children and “after adjusting for sibling diagnosis, they found there was no associated link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders,” Hughes added.

“The use of acetaminophen in childhood has not been robustly studied, but no data exists showing a causal link,” she said.

“As a parent, I understand how confusing all this can feel. And as a clinician who walks families through these decisions every day, it’s frustrating to see misinformation replace genuine curiosity.”
- Dr. Mona Amin, board-certified pediatrician in Florida

The American Academy of Pediatrics says acetaminophen is safe for children when used as directed and discussed with a child’s pediatrician.

“Acetaminophen remains the safest option for pain and fever during pregnancy and infancy when used as directed,” Amin added.

Tylenol is commonly used to help control fevers in children and pregnant women, and having an untreated fever is dangerous.

“Here’s what parents need to understand: The developing brain is affected far more by untreated high fevers or infections than by a single, properly dosed pain reliever,” Amin said.

“The benefit of using Tylenol when truly needed outweighs any unproven theoretical risk,” noted Amin.

Autism is complex, but research is ongoing.

“Autism is complex. It’s not caused by one medication, one vaccine, or one parenting decision,” said Amin.

For decades, scientists have been researching the cause of autism, Hughes added.

“It is very, very important to state that no one wants to find the causes for autism more than pediatric health care providers,” Meade noted. “I say ‘causes’ very intentionally, because we know this is not a one-cause diagnosis, it is very multifactorial and complex.”

“We will keep looking, and keep investigating, including looking into acetaminophen use — but the reality is that many large and well-done studies have shown absolutely no causal link at this point,” Meade said.

“Research shows genetics play the biggest role — sometimes inherited from parents, sometimes through spontaneous gene changes that affect how the brain forms and communicates,” Amin said.

“So, please, if you have a child with autism, do not think you did anything wrong. And know that the scientific community has not, nor will ever, forget about you,” Hughes said.

Studies looking into environmental risk factors are ongoing, “but ‘environmental’ doesn’t mean things like Tylenol or vaccines. It refers to broad prenatal or early life influences like severe maternal infection during pregnancy, significant prematurity, or exposure to high levels of air pollution, lead, or pesticides,” Amin said.

But, these environmental factors do not flat-out cause autism, and instead increase autism risk in combination with genetic predisposition, Amin said.

YourSupportMakes The Story

Your SupportFuelsOur Mission

Join Those Who Make It Possible

HuffPost stands apart because we report for the people, not the powerful. Our journalism is fearless, inclusive, and unfiltered. Join the membership program and help strengthen news that puts people first.

We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.

Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.

We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.

Support HuffPost

Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.

“As a parent, I understand how confusing all this can feel. And as a clinician who walks families through these decisions every day, it’s frustrating to see misinformation replace genuine curiosity,” Amin said.

“We should be investing our energy into research, education and support for autistic individuals, not fighting baseless claims,” she added.

Read the full story here.

Photos courtesy of

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At the same time, vultures reduce the available food sources for feral dogs and other scavengers, thereby suppressing diseases like rabies. Many Species, Similar Threats According to Birdlife Zimbabwe, Africa is home to 11 vulture species, six of which can be found in Zimbabwe. All but one of the species in Zimbabwe are threatened or endangered. The International Union of Conservation of Nature Red List, which assesses the conservation status of species around the world, classifies the white-backed vulture, white-headed vulture, and hooded vulture as critically endangered. The lappet-faced vulture and cape vulture are categorized as endangered and “vulnerable to extinction” respectively, while the palm-nut vulture is listed as “least concern” (although it was last assessed a decade ago). Regardless of their conservation status, all vultures in Zimbabwe have special protection under the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Act, making it illegal to kill a vulture, even in cases of accidental harm. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jeannee Sacken (@authorjeanneesacken) The six species have specific habitat niches, but many of their ranges overlap in Zimbabwe. The lappet-faced vulture breeds in Lowveld semi-arid areas like Gonarezhou National Park, while the white-headed vulture breeds in Hwange National Park and Gonarezhou. Cape vultures rely on cliffs for breeding and roosting, particularly in the central parts of the country. The hooded vulture breeds in low-lying areas of Tsholotsho and Gokwe. Palm-nut vultures, though considered rare in Zimbabwe, are seen mostly in the country’s Eastern Highlands. But no matter where they’re found, they face the same dangers — and vultures’ declines aren’t unique to Zimbabwe. A Worldwide Threat José Tavares, director of the Vulture Conservation Foundation, says the major threats to vultures in Africa and globally come from the ingestion of poison baits. “These [poison baits] are mostly put to deal with human-wildlife conflict, although in Southern Africa sentinel poisoning has also been significant,” Tavares says, referring to the poisoning to prevent circling vultures from giving away poachers’ locations. “The illegal poisoning of wildlife is a non-discriminatory measure that has a profound impact.” Zimbabwe presents a powerful illustration of the problem. According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) 2019-2022 Action Plan, the country experienced increased vulture poisoning incidents that are causing vulture populations to decline and harming other species. Mass poisoning events cited in the report include 191 vultures in Gonarezhou National Park in 2012, 40 at a farm in Fort Rixon in 2014, 22 in Sinamatella in 2015, 43 at Sentinel Ranch in 2016, 94 on the border of Gonarezhou National Park in 2017, 24 at Sengwa Wildlife Research Station in 2017, 28 in Main Camp in 2018, and 21 in Hwange National Park in 2019. There is no recent data from Zimparks covering the post-COVID period. According to former Zimparks director Fulton Mangwanya, a single vulture provides over US$11,000 worth of ecosystem services. “By halting the spread of disease, they are worth much more to society in saved health service costs, not to mention contributing significant revenue to the tourism sector as well,” Mangwanya wrote in the action plan. This poses direct threats to humans. In India, for example, one study reveals that between 2000 and 2005, the loss of vultures caused around 100,000 additional human deaths annually, resulting in more than £53 billion per year in mortality damages, or the economic costs associated with premature deaths. These deaths, experts say, were due to the spread of disease and bacteria that vultures could have otherwise removed from the environment. Has the decline in vultures caused similar problems in Zimbabwe? Kerri Wolter, chief executive officer of VulPro, a South African nonprofit organization devoted to safeguarding Africa’s vulture species, says it’s impossible to link the recent outbreak of anthrax in Gonarezhou National Park to the massive poisoning deaths of 280 vultures in the park in the past few years. The anthrax outbreak last year killed more than 120 animals, including four elephants, 75 buffaloes, and 38 kudus. However, more studies are needed on the possible link between the declining vulture population in Zimbabwe and rising cases of anthrax in the country’s national parks. But Wolter says the future of these birds is dire and the threat of vulture species’ extinctions is a very real possibility. “If we cannot get a grip on poisonings, I fear we will continue to see losses and some species disappearing,” she says. Saving Zimbabwe’s Vultures With an understanding of these threats, local and international groups have mobilized several efforts in Zimbabwe that aim to save the country’s last vultures. Birdlife Zimbabwe, for example, is working with communities to resolve human-wildlife conflict issues so they don’t end up causing vulture deaths as collateral damage. “We have created vulture support groups in [Zimbabwe’s] Gwayi area, where community members do vulture monitoring and educate other community members about vulture conservation,” Antonio says. “We are also educating and building capacity for law-enforcement agents so that they are conscious about vulture conservation and crimes against vultures. We also work with traditional healers because of belief-based use of vultures in traditional medicines.” And Tavares says the Vulture Conservation Foundation is fighting illegal poisoning through engaging with the competent authorities for the proper enforcement of the law and adequate investigation of illegal poisoning incidents to reduce impunity. Wolter says their work impacts the whole Southern Africa region. “We lead by example and have assisted, trained, and worked with Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust and Jabulani Safaris [in Zimbabwe] and continue to do so,” she says. Other efforts, including one funded by tourism, help vultures by giving them what they need most: safe food. The Victoria Falls Safari Collection, operated by the Africa Albida Tourism hospitality group, runs the Vulture Culture Experience at Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, where the birds are provided with food, typically animal carcasses, to support their survival and well-being. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Estnat Engsted (@ekewildphotography) “Our … conservation initiative has been highly successful in providing a safe food source for hundreds of vultures every day and reducing the risks of poisoning they face in the wild,” says Anald Musonza, head of sales and marketing at Victoria Falls Safari Collection. Musonza says the program has also become a powerful educational platform, where thousands of visitors learn about the plight of these highly endangered raptors and turn into ambassadors for vulture conservation. “Even when our hotels stood still during COVID, the Vulture Culture Experience never stopped — that’s how seriously we take conservation,” Musonza says. He says they work with VulPro as well as the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust on this project. “While the activity is free of charge, guests may make donations towards vulture research, and $1 from selected dishes at our MaKuwa-Kuwa Restaurant is donated to vulture conservation programs,” he says. Musonza says their biggest challenges have been in constantly raising awareness of the threats vultures face and the significant role they play in the ecosystem. “The poisoning of these birds is also of great concern, which is why education plays a crucial role in this conservation initiative,” Musonza says. Previously in The Revelator: Newest Flock of Wild California Condors Faces an Old Threat: Lead Poisoning The post Saving Zimbabwe’s Vultures appeared first on The Revelator.

Animals

Conservation

Culture

Protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf nearly triple under a new law – but it comes with a catch

An exception for commercial ring-net fishing in some protected areas of the Hauraki Gulf means they don’t count towards the global goal of protecting 30% by 2030.

Getty ImagesA new law that almost triples the protected area in the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana – New Zealand’s largest marine park at more than 1.2 million hectares, surrounding Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula – is something to be celebrated. But it comes with compromises, and it is especially disappointing that some forms of commercial fishing will continue in some areas. This week, parliament passed the Hauraki Gulf/Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill into law. It increases areas under some form of protection from 6% to 18% by extending two existing marine reserves and adding 12 high protection areas and five seafloor protection areas. These new areas add to the diversity of habitats under protection, including under-represented soft sediment ecosystems, and provide new opportunities for customary management. While fishing will be restricted in 18% of the gulf, there is a carve-out for commercial ring-net fishing in high protection areas. This diminishes their status as protected areas and makes it more difficult for New Zealand to fulfil its promise under the Global Biodiversity Framework to protect 30% of the marine environment by 2030. We should also recognise this is only a starting point in restoring the mauri (life force) of the gulf. Animals that live in the gulf’s water column remain vulnerable, and given the rate of environmental change in New Zealand’s waters, we need to fast-track the conservation process. Levels of protection The new legislation has three forms of protection. Marine reserves are complete no-take zones. High protection areas (HPAs) allow for restoration activities and provide for customary practices of tangata whenua. Seafloor protection areas (SPAs) protect habitats on the seabed, but they allow for activities that don’t damage them, such as non-bottom fishing. All three forms of protection share a common theme in restricting large-scale seafloor disturbances from bottom trawling and dredging, large-scale removal of non-living material such as sand, and dumping or discharge of waste. The protection of the seafloor is critical to preserving the many benefits we gain from its ecosystems, including carbon storage, the processing of excess nutrients, provision of food for fish, and nursery habitats. HPAs value Māori management and support the restoration of nature and culture. This opens up opportunities to undertake active restoration to accelerate passive recovery. Such activities may include large-scale kina (sea urchin) removal and re-seeding of shellfish populations. Many of the HPAs are alongside areas where significant restorative efforts are happening on land. This acknowledges land-sea connections and these areas will hopefully become successful examples of what integrated management can achieve. Lessons from NZ’s oldest marine reserve The Cape Rodney-Okakari Point (Goat Island) Marine Reserve at Leigh became New Zealand’s first legislated marine reserve 50 years ago. This reserve, on the north-east coast of the Hauraki Gulf, will quadruple in size under the new law. It has taught us many lessons about how coastal reef ecosystems are affected by human activity and how marine reserves benefit people, including fishers. For example, we know that marine reserves maintain populations of predators, such as large lobsters and snapper, which stop sea urchins from becoming too abundant and over-grazing coastal kelp forests. In the protected waters of the Goat Island marine reserve, snapper can grow big and populate other areas across the Hauraki Gulf. Getty Images The ability to protect large snapper has also demonstrated that size matters in fish reproduction. The marine reserve contributes disproportionately to the snapper population across a large part of the gulf. If this is scaled with the new protection area, it should lead to a more productive fishery that will benefit all. The expansion of the Cape Rodney-Okarkai Point Marine Reserve and the Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve at Hahei will open up new opportunities for learning about connections between reef and soft-sediment habitats and how they influence biodiversity. Fast-tracking marine conservation Overfishing, pollution, climate change and invasive species mean marine ecosystems are changing rapidly. Management responses must do so as well. Successive State of the Gulf Reports have documented the continued decline of its ecosystems. This new legislation builds on decades of efforts to protect the gulf. It follows the 2016 Sea Change/Tai Timu Tai Pari marine spatial plan and the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act 2000 which provided special recognition for the gulf but no additional protection. During times of rapid environmental change, we need strong connections between science, policy and management. Otherwise, we’re at risk of missing the connections and processes responsible for ecological tipping points. This new law must not be the end to marine protection and restoration of the Hauraki Gulf. Early European settlers reported an abundance of fish, invertebrates, whales and dolphins and we are a long way from these historical baselines. The new measures protect from some important forms of stress, namely overfishing and seafloor disturbance, but there are many others that continue to affect the gulf, including those that begin on land. Unless we work to substantially reduce the flow of sediment, nutrients and microplastics into the gulf, recovery will be slow. We also need to remember what these new measures do not protect: the fish, marine mammals and seabirds that live or move through the water column or depend on it. Our research and experience so far highlights the need to apply systems thinking to the management of marine environments. This means recognising and accounting for the dependencies between the ecological health and economic and social wealth of the Hauraki Gulf. Conrad Pilditch receives funding from the Department of Conservation, MBIE, regional councils and PROs. He is affiliated with the Mussel Reef Restoration Trust, the Whangateau Catchment Collective and New Zealand Marine Sciences Society.Simon Francis Thrush receives funding from MBIE and philanthropy. He is affiliated with the Royal Society New Zealand, NZ Marine Sciences Society and Whangateau Harbour Care.

Animals

Climate

Conservation

This 'Clock' Could Warn of Hidden Stresses to Animals, Offering a Long-Sought Signal That a Population Is Nearing Collapse

The epigenetic clock measures biological age and could help scientists assess the health of polar bears, dolphins, baboons and other threatened creatures "while recovery is still possible"

This ‘Clock’ Could Warn of Hidden Stresses to Animals, Offering a Long-Sought Signal That a Population Is Nearing Collapse The epigenetic clock measures biological age and could help scientists assess the health of polar bears, dolphins, baboons and other threatened creatures “while recovery is still possible” The epigenetic clock is emerging as a wildlife conservation tool. Knowable Magazine Key takeaways: Epigenetic clocks as a conservation tool Conservationists have been searching for a biological marker to hint that an animal population is in distress so that they can address warning signs before a collapse becomes inevitable. A recent preprint study used epigenetic clocks, a marker of “biological age,” to find that polar bear populations are aging more quickly than previous generations did, suggesting melting sea ice is taking a toll on their health. Wildlife conservation is a race against time—too often, a losing one. Typically, by the time scientists detect signs of species decline, populations have already collapsed. Genetic diversity is already depleted. Birth rates have plunged. And by the time these biological red flags are seen, the window for effective intervention has nearly closed. That’s what happened with the passenger pigeon: Once the most abundant bird in North America, it vanished in the blink of an ecological eye—wiped out by unchecked hunting and habitat destruction before anyone realized how fast the population was unraveling. The same story played out with the Chinese river dolphin, the Pyrenean ibex and the Caribbean monk seal. Silent declines went unnoticed for years until the tipping point had passed, leaving conservationists to document extinctions instead of preventing them. And the northern white rhino? By the time the world finally paid attention, the damage was irreversible. Poachers had reduced the species to two surviving individuals—both female. Determined to avoid more preventable losses, scientists have begun hunting for molecular warning signs that appear before populations spiral. But early leads, such as stress hormones and the length of the specialized tips of chromosomes—telomeres—have proved fickle, too easily swayed by the daily chaos of life in the wild. That’s why many scientists are now pinning their hopes on a novel tool called an epigenetic clock. This molecular timekeeper doesn’t keep time like a wristwatch, though. Instead, it measures “biological age,” a hidden ledger that can echo the calendar’s count but also offers a more nuanced reflection of how fast an organism is wearing down from stress, disease and environmental hardship. Epigenetic clocks work by analyzing patterns of chemical tags called methyl groups that get added to or subtracted from DNA at predictable sites across the genome as animals grow older. Some of these methylation signatures are remarkably stable and tightly linked to aging across many species. And, crucially for conservationists, they can be read from a simple tissue or blood sample. In the lab, researchers analyze skin biopsies from Lahille’s dolphins to measure DNA methylation patterns—molecular marks that reveal both true age and signs of accelerated aging. Oceanographic Museum Prof. Eliézer de C. Rios / FURG, Southern Brazil That makes epigenetic clocks especially valuable for elusive or long-lived species, where accurate age data are often missing. Wildlife biologists are already using these clocks to understand the age structures of animal populations, offering insights into their reproduction, survival and longevity. But the clocks hold deeper promise. When an animal’s biological age runs higher than its chronological one, it can signal physiological strain—a kind of molecular distress flare that may go off before any visible signs of problems. The potential for detecting accelerated aging before a population begins to visibly collapse is what excites Colin Garroway, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Manitoba in Canada. “Almost everything else we have is a lagging indicator of species decline,” he says. “This is at least potentially forward-looking.” Garroway’s confidence in the power of epigenetic clocks took shape through a study of polar bears from the Canadian Arctic. In work now posted on the preprint server bioRxiv, which has not yet undergone peer review, he and his colleagues found that bears born in recent decades are aging markedly faster than those from earlier generations—their biological ages outpacing their chronological ones. The likely cause, the researchers conclude: Longer ice-free periods are stranding bears on land, cutting off access to the seals that form the core of their diet, ultimately sapping the fat reserves they need to survive. “The change is too fast and too significant for them,” says co-author Evan Richardson, a polar bear ecologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the government agency that partially funded the study. That burden is then evident in the telltale molecular marks on the animals’ DNA. Richardson hopes the findings will force the “harder discussions” around polar bear management. But beyond sounding the alarm for this one imperiled species, he and his colleagues are hopeful that the wider conservation community will embrace epigenetic clocks as a proactive tool to safeguard biodiversity—before the point of no return. As Meaghan Jones, a University of Manitoba medical geneticist involved in the research, puts it: “This is a way to monitor populations in real time and see how stress is impacting them while recovery is still possible.” Clocking in The idea of tracking biological age through molecular changes first gained traction in studies of human DNA. Beginning in the early 2010s, biogerontologist Steve Horvath—then at the University of California, Los Angeles and now with the anti-aging biotech company Altos Labs—identified dozens and later hundreds of sites in the genome where DNA methylation tags were predictably gained or lost as people grew older. He used methylation patterns to construct a statistical model that could estimate a person’s age, launching the first epigenetic clocks. Horvath’s clocks emerged as powerful health indicators, with individuals whose biological age exceeded their chronological one showing a higher risk of chronic illness or early death—and that same logic, outlined in the 2025 issue of the Annual Review of Public Health, soon found a foothold in wildlife biology, too. Wild wood mice are helping scientists at the University of Edinburgh uncover how environmental factors such as food shortages and parasite infections accelerate biological aging. suffolk_jim / iNaturalist In 2021, for example, a team led by Jenny Tung, an evolutionary anthropologist now at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, developed a baboon-specific version of the epigenetic clock and applied it to a wild population in Kenya’s Amboseli basin. The researchers found that males with a high dominance rank tended to be biologically older than their lower-status peers, even when their chronological ages were the same. It was a compelling demonstration that the clock could connect ecologically relevant pressures to accelerated aging in a wild animal. And contrary to what might be expected—that social success would track with better health—it revealed the biological toll of dominance. “Attaining and maintaining high rank is costly,” Tung says. Other studies linking life stressors to accelerated aging would eventually follow—Garroway’s polar bear work among the most prominent—but most early adopters of epigenetic clocks for wildlife biology focused on a more basic goal: filling gaps in demographic data. Traditionally, estimating the age of wildlife involves methods such as tooth extraction to count growth rings, which is labor-intensive and intrusive. Epigenetic clocks, in contrast, require a small tissue or blood sample, often obtainable through remote methods like dart biopsies. From there, researchers extract DNA and use lab methods to read the methylation patterns known to change with age. Then, they apply statistical models to compare the patterns with animals of known ages. Inspired by the work of Horvath and others, wildlife biologists began adapting epigenetic clocks for the animals they study: humpback whales, lampreys, sea turtles, salmon. Then, in 2017, Horvath secured a $1.5 million grant to build clocks for a menagerie of species. Lions and tigers and bears Horvath began cold-emailing field biologists, zoo veterinarians and wildlife researchers, inviting anyone with blood, DNA or other archived tissues in their freezers to join the project. “Whoever had samples became a partner,” he says. Specimens poured in—for nearly 350 animal species in total, representing 25 of the 26 known taxonomic orders of mammal. Horvath generated clocks for elephants, bats, zebras, monkeys, marmots, mole rats and more. From this, he and his global network of collaborators built a universal mammalian epigenetic clock, one that factored in each species’ maximum lifespan alongside observable shifts in DNA methylation over time. The result was a clock that could accurately gauge an individual’s age, both chronological and biological, from a DNA sample—not just in humans or lab mice, but in otters, opossums and Tasmanian devils, too. Horvath’s main aim was to explore how aging unfolds across the animal kingdom and what accelerates the process—potentially uncovering antiaging mechanisms that might be replicated pharmaceutically. But there were clear applications for conservation, starting with filling in missing details about survival and reproduction in the wild. In Alaska, for example, wildlife biologist Susannah Woodruff, then with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and now with the state’s Department of Fish and Game, turned to the pan-mammalian clock to estimate the ages of the state’s polar bears. Working independently of the Canadian team pursuing similar questions, she and her colleagues first ran samples through this “universal” clock and found it performed reasonably well, producing estimates within a year or two of the bears’ true ages. “That’s pretty good,” Woodruff says. Building a clock tailored specifically to polar bears was better still. Doing that required getting blood samples from known-age individuals—something not feasible for every species—but in Woodruff’s case, she had access to nearly 200 such bears. And as a head-to-head comparison published in July showed, the bear-specific clock yielded more precise and reliable results, pinpointing age to within plus-or-minus nine months. Epigenetic clock studies show that polar bears born in recent decades are aging faster than earlier generations, likely due to shrinking sea ice that limits their hunting opportunities and erodes fat reserves. Susannah Woodruff Short of developing a bespoke species clock, the next best thing can be to adapt one from closely related kin. That’s the approach taken to study the Lahille’s dolphin by conservation medicine veterinarian Ashley Barratclough of the nonprofit National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego. This vulnerable subspecies of bottlenose dolphin is found off the coast of South America, with fewer than 600 left in the wild. Few have reliable age records. Barratclough and her colleagues first created a clock for the common bottlenose dolphin, using blood and skin samples collected from known-age animals maintained by the U.S. Navy. In collaboration with Brazilian marine biologist Pedro Fruet, Barratclough then applied the tool to the genetically distinct Lahille’s dolphin, filling in demographic black holes that, among other things, identified reproductive-age females, thus providing a focal point for conservationists to target in their efforts to rebuild the population. “For an endangered cetacean species like the Lahille’s bottlenose dolphin, every piece of demographic information is extremely important to understand the future of the population,” says Fruet, founder of the conservation group Kaosa. “And the epigenetic clock tool is helping us to refine and get estimates that we couldn’t otherwise.” Notably, in Brazil’s Patos Lagoon, where the true ages of some Lahille’s dolphins are known, the tool also revealed signs of accelerated aging, notes Fruet—a finding he fears may reflect the impact of pollutants from industry and agriculture, among other stresses. Barratclough has documented similar effects in the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, where dolphins exposed to oil pollution from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster appear to have aged faster than their counterparts living in cleaner waters elsewhere. Conservation biologists use remote dart biopsies to collect tissue from Lahille’s dolphins, a vulnerable subspecies with fewer than 600 individuals left in the wild. The samples provide crucial data on their age structure and reproductive potential. Pedro Fruet / Kaosa Worse for wear As evidence grows that epigenetic clocks can not only reveal true age but also flag premature aging, researchers are beginning to probe how environmental hardships shape the tempo of aging in the wild. At the University of Edinburgh, for example, evolutionary biologist Tom Little and disease ecologist Amy Pedersen are experimentally manipulating factors such as food availability and parasite load in wild wood mouse populations, then tracking the epigenetic fallout over time. “If you look at the human literature, we’ve got all these things—diet, stress, infections—that we know influence biological age,” Little says. “But in wildlife, we just don’t know what environmental features drive animals to be gray before their time.” Such research, however, requires running large numbers of samples through expensive molecular tests, and a major barrier to wider-scale adoption of wildlife clocks remains cost. The most commonly used testing platform—the Horvath Mammalian Array, based on Horvath’s research, manufactured by the genomics giant Illumina and sold by the nonprofit Epigenetic Clock Development Foundation—runs about $200 per sample, which adds up quickly when trying to analyze dozens or hundreds of wild animals. “It becomes very cost-prohibitive, especially in my budgetary world,” says Aaron Shafer, a population geneticist at Trent University in Canada who is studying whether epigenetic clocks can reveal premature signs of aging linked to chronic wasting disease, a deadly neurodegenerative illness affecting deer populations across North America. Shafer is spearheading the development of lower-cost, custom-built tests to make the technology more accessible for conservation use. In parallel, Garroway and Jones, together with Levi Newediuk, a wildlife ecologist at Mount Royal University in Canada, have been working on ways to streamline the use of epigenetic clocks in wildlife research so it can be applied in more species and settings. They also want to drive home the relevance of epigenetic clock data to policy decisions by connecting biological aging directly to habitat degradation. In their polar bear study, for instance, the researchers didn’t just document faster aging. They tied those biological shifts to tangible environmental change. Bears born in recent decades, as Arctic temperatures have risen, showed clear signs of accelerated biological aging, the scientists found. And unpublished follow-up analyses indicate that the effect plays out unevenly across regions, shaped by the distinct ecological pressures faced by each population of bears. According to Newediuk, the trend was most pronounced around Hudson Bay, where seasonal sea ice breaks up earlier and forms later than it once did, curtailing hunting opportunities and limiting access to seals. In contrast, bears from regions with more stable ice, such as those living near the Beaufort Sea and around other parts of the high Arctic, are aging more slowly. The findings, in other words, lend weight to long-standing concerns that vanishing sea ice isn’t just threatening the bears’ hunting grounds—it’s quietly eroding their biological resilience. “They’re in trouble, for sure,” Newediuk says. Fortunately for the threatened wildlife, accelerated aging isn’t necessarily a one-way street. As Tung’s investigation of baboons has shown, it can be slowed—potentially reversed. Tung found that when male baboons lost dominance rank, their epigenetic clocks seemed to slow down. In a couple instances, biological age even ticked backward as males fell in social status, despite the passage of time. That means the rate of aging is “not necessarily a fixed trait,” says Tung. And if it can be delayed in baboons, perhaps it can be rolled back in other species as well. “It opens the door to that possibility.”Knowable Magazine is an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews. Get the latest Science stories in your inbox.

Animals

Health

Chemicals

Majestic wild horses are trampling Mono Lake's otherworldly landscape. The feds plan a roundup

Federal officials plan to round up wild horses roaming the Eastern Sierra, citing hazards and damage. But local tribes and others seek a different outcome.

Several dozen horses calmly graze along the shores of Mono Lake, a sparkling saline expanse spread out before the jagged Sierra Nevada mountains. The September sun is blazing. A pair of brown horses come up side by side and stare intensely at an approaching visitor.These wild equines soon may disappear from beside the ancient lake. The prospect is stirring emotional disagreement over the future of the herd, which has surged to more than three times what federal officials say the land can support.“These horses deserve a place to roam and be free, but around Mono Lake is not the place,” said Bartshe Miller of the Mono Lake Committee, an environmental nonprofit. Bartshe Miller, Eastern Sierra policy director for the Mono Lake Committee, looks out onto the landscape at Warm Springs, a remote area on the east side of Mono Lake. Earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approved a plan to round up and remove hundreds of wild horses roaming beyond the roughly 200,000 acres designated for them along the California and Nevada border. No date has been set, but it could be as soon as this fall.It would be a relief for some. Environmentalists say the horses are degrading the otherworldly landscape at Mono Lake, including bird habitat and its famed tufa — textured rock columns that would look at home on Mars. Ranchers say the animals are gobbling down plants needed to sustain their cattle. Federal officials highlight the safety hazard posed by horses that have wandered onto highways.Others see the move as a travesty. One method to oust the horses would use helicopters to drive them into a trap, which animal welfare groups say creates dangerous, even deadly, situations for horses. A pending federal bill would ban the practice.Local tribes and nonprofits have partnered to fight the roundup plan, arguing that the Indigenous community should be tapped to manage the animals that roam their ancestral lands. A separate group of plaintiffs has sued the government, claiming it’s reneging on its duty to protect the horses. A group of horses roams near the community of Benton, Calif., not far from the Nevada border. Ronda Kauk, of the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a tribe, stands near wild horses. “We’re all living spirits,” said Ronda Kauk, a member of the Mono Lake Kootzaduka’a tribe. “And it’s sad that people just don’t care about another living thing because they think it doesn’t belong there.”Unseen evolutionFor 36 years, Dave Marquart was part of a small team that monitored wetlands rimming Mono Lake, places so inaccessible even four-wheel drives can get stuck. Flung out far on the landscape, only wildlife could enjoy them. The area was a major nesting site for yellow-headed black birds, red-winged black birds, marsh wrens, soras and Virginia rails.“There weren’t a lot of people that saw the transition that I saw, from healthy wetlands to completely trampled and devastated wetlands,” said Marquart, who was an interpretive naturalist for the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve until he retired in 2019. “It was quite a drastic change.”Marquart recalled a time when he’d encounter fewer than 50 horses. They’d bolt when they saw his vehicle coming. That fear faded and their ranks grew. Over time, he said, they stamped ponds and urinated and defecated in the water. The birds stopped showing up. Bartshe Miller holds grass he said was pulled up by the roots by wild horses roaming near Mono Lake. According to Miller, horses started arriving near the lake around 2015. Before retiring, Marquart said, he helped organize a field trip involving the Forest Service, BLM and State Parks to showcase the impacts.“Everybody saw that it was an issue and felt that something needed to be done,” he said.Today, sizable mounds of horse manure dot Warm Springs, a remote area along the eastern edge of Mono Lake that Marquart had raised the alarm about during his tenure. White bones of fallen equines rest in the alkaline meadows. Chestnut fur gleamed on a hoof attached to a leg bone.Miller, the Mono Lake Committee’s Eastern Sierra policy director, and Geoff McQuilkin, its executive director, led the way to a burbling spring rimmed by innumerable hoof prints. Surrounding vegetation was nibbled to nubs. Wildlife compete for the limited water here. The bleached bones of a wild horse lie in vegetation near the shores of Mono Lake. “The birds that would have a safe haven in that spring or be hidden away from raptors and predators overhead don’t have that opportunity anymore,” McQuilkin said.The pair first remembered the horses showing up in remote areas around the lake in 2015, as the state was gripped by drought. By 2021, as they pushed west, they landed at South Tufa, where tourists congregate to gaze at the limestone columns. In the spring of 2023, horse carcasses emerged along the shores of South Tufa and nearby Navy Beach as the snow from a winter of biblical proportions melted.“The recent deaths of these horses provide further evidence that the size of this herd cannot be supported by the landscape which they are expanding onto,” Lisa Cox, a spokesperson for the Inyo National Forest, said at the time.“They’re medicine.” Rana Saulque, vice chairwoman of the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute tribe, walks near a natural spring in an area where wild horses gather near the community of Benton, Calif. On a pleasantly cool day in September, Rana Saulque stared transfixed at a group of roughly 50 wild horses in the River Spring Lakes Ecological Reserve, not far from her tribe’s reservation near the town of Benton. Saulque, vice chairwoman for the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute tribe, draws a parallel between ousting the horses and the historic persecution of her people by the government. “They’re going to run them down with helicopters and genocide them, just like they ran down us,” she said through tears. A striking cremello horse stood out from the rest — a beloved subject for photographers who sojourn here. A brown foal with a white stripe on its muzzle teetered on toothpick legs. Several babies hugged close to their moms.Mostly, the horses peacefully graze, but two rear up momentarily. “That’s horsing around,” Saulque said. Then they begin galloping and suddenly they look powerful and sleek. Epic, like a poster for a classic western film. Dozens of wild horses graze on the River Spring Lakes Ecological Reserve. “They’re so magical,” the vice chairwoman said. “They’re medicine for people.”Federal officials stress that they have precautions in place to ensure safety during helicopter roundups. That includes avoiding peak foaling periods and hot weather that would stress the horses.The Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute are among a coalition that wants to pause the planned roundups for two years and ultimately secure land back to set aside a sanctuary for the horses to roam. As envisioned, local tribes would help manage the herd, including darting horses with a birth control vaccine to limit population growth. Horses could be put to work at pack stations, equine therapy and rodeo schools for kids, the group says.The proposal could also help revive horse culture that runs deep in the tribal communities, Saulque said. Jim Walker, her great-great-grandfather and a respected medicine man, rode mustangs all the way to Florida, visiting tribes along the way to exchange medicine and horses. Maya Jamal Kasberg, founder of nonprofit Made by Mother Earth, is part of the coalition that wants to scrap the current plan to round up Montgomery Pass horses. Kauk’s tribe historically rode the horses from Lee Vining into Yosemite to gather basket-making materials, among other activities. Mustangs were tapped for Native American rodeos and relay races, she added.According to the coalition that includes the nonprofit American Wild Horse Conservation, the feds and groups like the Mono Lake Committee have the science all wrong. The herbivores chomp down invasive cheatgrass that poses wildfire risk, and their poop — maligned by many — actually spreads native seeds, they say. Wild and free — for nowAt the heart of the emotional battle playing out in the Eastern Sierra is the Montgomery Pass wild horse herd. According to the U.S. Forest Service, its origin is unknown. But there’s speculation that it’s linked to mustang drives between the Owens Valley and Nevada.A 1971 law declared wild horses and burros “living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West,” and made it illegal to harass, capture or kill them on public lands. But the Forest Service and BLM, which became responsible for managing them, can remove “excess animals” to preserve the health of the range.The way this often plays out is that horses are rounded up and offered for adoption or sale. Those that aren’t taken in by a private owner are shipped to pastures where they often live out their remaining days. A census last year found that there are now about 700 horses in the Montgomery Pass herd. Federal officials designated the Montgomery Pass Wild Horse Territory, a remote area spanning sagebrush steppe and pinyon pine forest east of Mono Lake. They say the land can sustainably support 138 to 230 horses. As of last year, nearly 700 were documented in an aerial survey, with most ranging outside the territory, according to the agencies. Now under a plan approved in March, up to 500 horses could be ousted, with the Forest Service leading the effort and BLM assisting.Both agencies declined requests for interviews for this story, citing pending litigation. In August, a documentary filmmaker, primary care physician and wildlife ecologist sued the government authorities overseeing the agencies, claiming the roundups will decimate the herd to the point where long-term survival is unlikely.“This case represents yet another attempt by the agencies to evade their statutory duties to protect, preserve and manage the herd,” the suit reads.The government has agreed not to round up horses before Oct. 20, according to court documents.When multiple uses collide Rancher Leslie Hunewill looks at calves and their moms at her family’s historic ranch in Bridgeport. Leslie Hunewill’s cattle ranching family sees quite a bit of “horse activity” on grazing lands in an area called the Mono Sand Flats, to the east and north of the lake. Since purchasing the right to use the public land, her outfit has been able to graze there for only about five weeks in the last two years — and not consecutively. The culprit? “A huge number of horses,” she said.“Our cattle have not been out there,” she said. “There’s nothing for them to eat.” Cows aren’t allowed on the roughly 50,000-acre expanse during the growing season. But the horses, facing no fences, go for what’s green and pushing up, she said.“It doesn’t make sense for us to overuse or overgraze the land when we need to come back to it,” she said. “So when we are doing our part to manage the portion of it that we can, which is, say, our use of the cattle on that land, that’s all well and good. But who is taking charge of the horses and saying, this is too heavy use?” The Hunewills, who have deep roots in the Eastern Sierra, operate a guest ranch in Bridgeport. The law directs agencies to manage horse populations to maintain a “thriving natural ecological balance.” BLM and the Forest Service have to consider mustangs alongside grazing, wildlife and what’s good for the land. Some say the agencies have kicked the can down the road on management of the Montgomery Pass herd.Hunewill’s family has deep roots in the Eastern Sierra. Her great-great-great-grandfather came to California in the 1860s as a gold miner. He struck it rich, and got into the lumber business. When that stopped paying out, he used his oxen to feed the town of Bodie. Her family is still in the beef business, with the meat generally staying on the West Coast.They employ quite a few mustangs at their guest ranch operation in the town of Bridgeport, including Jethro, a friendly brown fella with a splash of white on his forehead. They’re hardy horses, and can be enlisted as pack animals high up in the mountains. Some don’t need shoes because of their “great feet.” But their robustness means “everybody’s already got their mustang,” she said, stymieing the prospect of mass adoptions.Shifting dynamicsWild horse populations can increase as much as 20% a year. Montgomery Pass horses used to summer in the high country and were once kept in check by mountain lions that preyed on foals, according to John Turner, a professor at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, who studied the herd for decades.That changed around 2008 or 2009, when the horses began lingering at lower elevations, where the open country makes it difficult for lions to hunt.The herd’s population surged. Turner sees the government’s current system of rounding up horses and holding them as unsustainable. And costly.“The gathers are successful at that time, but the reproductive rate of the animals is greater than the capacity to remove them,” he said.

Animals

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Conservation

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Plants, Pollinators & Prayers

Inspired by the decline of monarch butterflies in the Midwestern prairie, a gardener, educator, and pastor transform a rural church’s backyard into a sanctuary for pollinating animals, an educational garden for the community, and a sacred space for spiritual contemplation.

Plants

Animals

Culture

Total Disaster

Armed with realistic bird puppets, trickster environmental activists pretend to be oil company Total—staging a satirical press conference to introduce "RéHabitat," a program to rescue animals from the East African Oil Pipeline by relocating them to “more sustainable” habitats. Using humor and mischief, they expose a deadly ecological disaster in a zany effort to help #StopEACOP.

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Weathering Tides: Saving the Black Rail in South Carolina

The Eastern Black Rail is a federally Endangered and extremely secretive marsh bird, found primarily along the mid-Atlantic and Southeast coast of the United States. Habitat loss from development and sea-level rise inundation has reduced populations by 90% since the 1990s. Without intervention, the remaining east coast population is projected to be extirpated before 2070. Black Rails’ breeding success is incredibly vulnerable to minute changes in water level, and in coastal regions experiencing dramatic changes in storm regimes and steadily rising seas, their future depends on precise water-level management within the critical sites that remain. South Carolina’s ACE Basin is a one such landscape, uniquely comprised of historically dike-impounded wetlands, which today provides a stronghold for some 30 breeding pairs. A grassroots partnership among private landowners, non-profit conservation groups, and state and federal agencies is working urgently to understand the rails’ precise and cryptic needs, and to develop the techniques—and support—required to create those conditions on the ground. The Cornell Lab’s Center for Conservation Media has produced “Weathering Tides” (13 minutes), a short film highlighting the unlikely partnerships and pioneering techniques of this dedicated coalition. The film will be used by agency and non-profit partners in South Carolina and across the Atlantic Coast to build the support and participation necessary to scale effective management efforts beyond the ACE Basin, and to recover Eastern Black Rail populations. To learn more about the work in South Carolina, visit southcarolinablackrails.org. To learn more about efforts to recover Black Rail population across the Atlantic Coast, visit acjv.org/black-rail This film was made possible through generous support from the Robert F. Schumann Foundation.

Animals

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Documentary

Wildlife in Our Backyard

It is often said that we must tolerate wildlife, but what happens if we learn to thrive with them instead? What can this mean for the wildlife? What can it mean for the people of Florida? And what can it mean for the endangered Florida panther? Wildlife in Our Backyard shows us some of the problems facing the wildlife as well as the hope of a brighter future as we learn to share the landscape with them.

Animals

Land Use

Extinction

Jetty Cats

Jetty Cats explores contemporary animal rights issues through a focus on a feral cat colony that has survived on a rocky, seaside jetty in Southern California for decades. There is an ongoing debate over feral cat colonies involving advocates who support the trap, neuter, and return -- or "TNR" -- model of management, and those who argue that trapping and euthanizing the cats is more humane. This documentary’s point-of-view supports the TNR model and the related “no-kill” animal shelter policy, and features an exclusive interview with Richard Avanzino, the "Father" of the no-kill movement.

Animals

Government

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Doctors Sound The Alarm As RFK Jr.’s Baseless Circumcision-Autism Claim Fuels Misinformation

“There is no solid data” behind his claims.

Babies aren’t even always given Tylenol during or after circumcision.

**Circumcision is a generally safe procedure that is not linked to autism.**

There is no proof that Tylenol causes autism.

Autism is complex, but research is ongoing.

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Majestic wild horses are trampling Mono Lake's otherworldly landscape. The feds plan a roundup

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Plants, Pollinators & Prayers

Total Disaster

Weathering Tides: Saving the Black Rail in South Carolina

Wildlife in Our Backyard

Jetty Cats

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sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

Doctors Sound The Alarm As RFK Jr.’s Baseless Circumcision-Autism Claim Fuels Misinformation

“There is no solid data” behind his claims.

Babies aren’t even always given Tylenol during or after circumcision.

Circumcision is a generally safe procedure that is not linked to autism.

There is no proof that Tylenol causes autism.

Autism is complex, but research is ongoing.

Related News

Study: Commercial Lion Farming in South Africa Could Be Harming, Not Helping, Wild Lions

Saving Zimbabwe’s Vultures

Protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf nearly triple under a new law – but it comes with a catch

This 'Clock' Could Warn of Hidden Stresses to Animals, Offering a Long-Sought Signal That a Population Is Nearing Collapse

Majestic wild horses are trampling Mono Lake's otherworldly landscape. The feds plan a roundup

Suggested Viewing

Plants, Pollinators & Prayers

Total Disaster

Weathering Tides: Saving the Black Rail in South Carolina

Wildlife in Our Backyard

Jetty Cats

Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

**Circumcision is a generally safe procedure that is not linked to autism.**

Join us to forge
a sustainable future