WildEarth Guardians sues FWS over Gunnison’s prairie dog

A Western environmental organization sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service last week for its refusal to list the Gunnison’s prairie dog as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. WildEarth Guardians filed the suit in federal district court in Phoenix, Ariz. on April 17, saying the FWS failed to use the best available science to properly consider the act’s five listing factors or consider the historic range of the species. Ongoing urban oil and gas development, shooting, poisoning, outbreaks of sylvatic plague, drought and climate change pose significant threats to the Gunnison’s prairie dog and its habitat, according to WildEarth Guardians. “We would like to see them protected,” said Bethany Cotton, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. “We would like the service to take a look again. We thought the analysis was just deficient.”...more