Feds fail to protect rare species

The Center for Biological Diversity recently announced its intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to act on overdue petitions requesting protection for several rare species under the Endangered Species Act, according to a CBD press release.

In mid-June, the CBD filed a formal notice citing legal deadlines the agency missed—in many cases by several years—for addressing petitions requesting protection for the Plains bison, striped newt, Berry Cave salamander, Puerto Rican harlequin butterfly, Ozark chinquapin, western gull-billed tern and Mohave ground squirrel.

The CBD has been unsatisfied with the Obama administration’s sluggish response to the endangered-species list as a whole, and noted that officials have listed only two mainland species thus far (and 48 in Kauai, Hawaii).