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Marvel strikes again!!!!
Conservation groups have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming the agency ignored some scientific information in recommending not to list the pygmy rabbit as an endangered or threatened species.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by the Hailey-based Western Watersheds Project, joined by the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Sagebrush Sea Campaign.
It's the second lawsuit the groups have filed against the Interior Department agency over North America's smallest rabbit. The first, filed in 2004, ended in a settlement that required Fish and Wildlife to decide if threats to the tiny bunny warranted a yearlong review that could have led to protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Last year the agency said the petition seeking to protect the pygmy rabbit did not contain enough biological information to warrant a study, but that it would continue to monitor the rabbit.
That's not good enough, the conservation groups contend. Their lawsuit says the agency decision was "arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law in many respects."
Specifically, the conservation groups say the agency ignored scientific evidence they provided that shows pygmy rabbits had suffered a significant reduction in their historical ranges. Fish and Wildlife decided against using the information on grounds that it was not collected in a systematic or comprehensive manner, the lawsuit said.
Officials with the Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.
The pygmy rabbit is an indicator species, and its decline suggests impending decline of other species living in sage-steppe habitat, said Jon Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project.
"If we're going to save the pygmy rabbit and many other native species that are at risk, we need to address the decline in habitat, and we can't do that without the help of the Endangered Species Act," Marvel said.
The pygmy rabbit is found in Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, California and Washington, according to the conservation groups. But it's not clear how many of them still exist.
In Washington, the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit — a population distinct from the rest of the pygmy rabbits — dwindled to as few as a dozen before that species was granted protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2003. In an effort to boost numbers in Washington, the state Department of Fish and Game gave the Oregon Zoo in Portland nearly $60,000 to build a conservation center dedicated to the rabbit, and experimental captive breeding programs were started.
In Idaho, the pygmy rabbit was discovered by a U.S. Geological Survey expedition in 1891. The little mammal is small enough to fit in the palm of the hand and is one of only two North American rabbits that digs its own burrow. Sagebrush makes up most of its diet.
Greg Burak, a wildlife technician for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said researchers have begun paying more attention to the rabbits in the past decade.
The plaintiffs contend the animals are at risk because of the destruction of sagebrush habitat from livestock grazing, off-road vehicles and development.
"They just started coming up on the radar as being a species to watch when people stopped seeing them where they used to see them," Burak said. "They're not as prolific as other rabbit species, so you don't see population explosions."
Several factors could be contributing to the apparent decline, Burak said, including urban sprawl, loss of habitat, wildfires and agricultural conversions of land.
Conservation groups have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming the agency ignored some scientific information in recommending not to list the pygmy rabbit as an endangered or threatened species.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court by the Hailey-based Western Watersheds Project, joined by the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Native Ecosystems, Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Sagebrush Sea Campaign.
It's the second lawsuit the groups have filed against the Interior Department agency over North America's smallest rabbit. The first, filed in 2004, ended in a settlement that required Fish and Wildlife to decide if threats to the tiny bunny warranted a yearlong review that could have led to protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Last year the agency said the petition seeking to protect the pygmy rabbit did not contain enough biological information to warrant a study, but that it would continue to monitor the rabbit.
That's not good enough, the conservation groups contend. Their lawsuit says the agency decision was "arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law in many respects."
Specifically, the conservation groups say the agency ignored scientific evidence they provided that shows pygmy rabbits had suffered a significant reduction in their historical ranges. Fish and Wildlife decided against using the information on grounds that it was not collected in a systematic or comprehensive manner, the lawsuit said.
Officials with the Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.
The pygmy rabbit is an indicator species, and its decline suggests impending decline of other species living in sage-steppe habitat, said Jon Marvel, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project.
"If we're going to save the pygmy rabbit and many other native species that are at risk, we need to address the decline in habitat, and we can't do that without the help of the Endangered Species Act," Marvel said.
The pygmy rabbit is found in Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, California and Washington, according to the conservation groups. But it's not clear how many of them still exist.
In Washington, the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit — a population distinct from the rest of the pygmy rabbits — dwindled to as few as a dozen before that species was granted protection under the Endangered Species Act in 2003. In an effort to boost numbers in Washington, the state Department of Fish and Game gave the Oregon Zoo in Portland nearly $60,000 to build a conservation center dedicated to the rabbit, and experimental captive breeding programs were started.
In Idaho, the pygmy rabbit was discovered by a U.S. Geological Survey expedition in 1891. The little mammal is small enough to fit in the palm of the hand and is one of only two North American rabbits that digs its own burrow. Sagebrush makes up most of its diet.
Greg Burak, a wildlife technician for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said researchers have begun paying more attention to the rabbits in the past decade.
The plaintiffs contend the animals are at risk because of the destruction of sagebrush habitat from livestock grazing, off-road vehicles and development.
"They just started coming up on the radar as being a species to watch when people stopped seeing them where they used to see them," Burak said. "They're not as prolific as other rabbit species, so you don't see population explosions."
Several factors could be contributing to the apparent decline, Burak said, including urban sprawl, loss of habitat, wildfires and agricultural conversions of land.
