La Paz, Mexico - The Center for Biological Diversity, a leading U.S. wildlife-protection group, opened an office in Mexico this week to help save endangered sea turtles, porpoises and other wildlife from extinction. The office is the Center's first outside the United States.

"Mexico's home to a stunning array of wildlife, and far too many of these animals face the prospect of disappearing forever," said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center. "We're at a critical moment in the fight to save endangered species and wild places in the United States and beyond. Having a Center representative on the ground in Mexico, advocating for species every day, will give us exciting new opportunities to prevent the tragedy of extinction."

The Center's Mexico office will build on its existing work to conserve Mexican wildlife. For years the Center has sought the protection of cross-border species like Mexican wolves and jaguars, as well as condors and black-footed ferrets. The Center is also working to save the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, a species with only about 50 animals remaining, from fishing nets in the Gulf of California, and has advocated to stop the massive bycatch of endangered loggerhead sea turtles off Baja California Sur through pressure both in Mexico and in the United States.

"I'm thrilled to be joining an organization with an unparalleled record of protecting species and the places they live," said Alex Olivera, the Center's Mexico representative. "Mexico is my home, and the wildlife here - from jaguars in the north to vaquita in the Gulf of California - are an essential part of what makes this place so vital and special. We've got work to do, though, to ensure they survive for generations to come."

Olivera is a marine biologist from the University of Baja California Sur. He has a master's degree in use, management and preservation of natural resources and a Diploma in Environmental Law. Olivera comes to the Center after years of excellent work at the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda) and Greenpeace México.

The Center is the leading endangered wildlife group in the United States. It has secured Endangered Species Act protection for more than 550 species and 470 million acres of protected critical habitat. With a staff of more than 100, the Center is based in Tucson, Ariz., and has offices across the United States.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation organization with more than 900,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Learn more at BiologicalDiversity.org.