July
29 , 2004
The Animal
Defense League of Arizona has joined scientists and conservation
groups in sending a Notice of Intent to Sue the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (Service) over the agency's failure to issue
a timely finding on the petition to list the Gunnison's prairie
dog under the Endangered Species Act.
A broad coalition
of private landowners, realtors, homebuilders, military officers,
scientists, religious organizations, conservation and animal
protection groups submitted the petition to the USFWS in late
February. Under the Endangered Species Act, the agency is
required to determine within 90 days of receiving a petition
whether there is sufficient information to merit a status
review on the petitioned species. That finding was due in
late May but has not yet been issued. Under the Bush Administration,
the agency is routinely failing to meet petition deadlines.
"The
Gunnison's prairie dog is slipping away due to an onslaught
of threats, and it urgently needs federal protection,"
said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino of Forest Guardians. "We refuse
to let the service stick its head in the sand while this imperiled
and ecologically vital mammal plummets."
Gunnison's
prairie dogs have declined by more than 90% across their range
due to historic and current poisoning and shooting, sylvatic
plague, and habitat destruction. During the past several years,
plague has devastated prairie dog populations across large
areas in northern Arizona. Habitat destruction has resulted
in prairie dog acreage reductions in Flagstaff, Arizona, and
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos, New Mexico. Rampant shooting
of Gunnison's prairie dogs occurs in Colorado and escalating
oil and gas development is eroding remaining prairie dog habitat
in several states.
While alarmed
at the lack of a timely petition finding for the Gunnison's
prairie dog, the USFWS's failure to meet federal environmental
requirements is not unexpected. The Bush Administration has
listed fewer species under the Endangered Species Act than
any other administration since the law's passage in 1973.
Only 31 species in total have been listed under Bush, and
all of those listings have been ordered by the courts.
In contrast,
the Clinton Administration listed 65 species per year and
the George H. W. Bush Administration listed an average of
59 species every year. Though the present administration cynically
cites underfunding as its excuse for failing to protect imperiled
species, for years it has been asking Congress to chronically
starve the program of funding.
"The
Bush Administration is desperately trying to dismantle our
nation's most important conservation laws," said Erin
Robertson, staff biologist for Center for Native Ecosystems.
"The service's delay on providing urgently needed protection
to the Gunnison's prairie dog is just one more sign of the
Administration's misguided crusade against the environment."
Gunnison's
prairie dogs also have a highly complex communication system
- the most sophisticated yet documented among non-human animals.
Northern Arizona University's Dr. Con Slobodchikoff has pioneered
research over the past two decades that has demonstrated a
prairie dog language system which distinguishes between types
of predators, specific characteristics of humans, and indicates
learning and memory.
"Our
findings on the complexity of prairie dog communications should
inspire us to take a second look at this animal. Rather than
viewing prairie dogs as varmints, it's time to recognize that
they are fascinating and important components of the natural
landscape," said Dr. Slobodchikoff.
The scientists
and conservation groups issuing the Notice of Intent to Sue
are Gunnison's prairie dog biologists Dr. Constantine Slobodchikoff
and Jennifer Verdolin, M.S., Forest Guardians (Santa Fe),
Center for Native Ecosystems (Denver), Animal Protection of
New Mexico (Albuquerque), Animal Defense League of Arizona
(Tucson), Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (Salt Lake City),
Utah Environmental Congress (Salt Lake City), and Rocky Mountain
Animal Defense (Boulder, Colo.).
Click
here f or a copy of the Notice of Intent to Sue
For more
background information on the Gunnison's
prairie dog, and to view the listing petition, visit www.fguardians.org.
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