9/8/2003
1281
SUIT FILED TO PROTECT IMPERILED IDAHO SQUIRREL
The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds
Project, and Committee for the High Desert filed suit
on 8-15-03 against the Bush administration for delaying
Endangered Species Act protection for the imperiled
southern Idaho ground squirrel, which lives only in
Gem, Payette and Washington counties in southwestern
Idaho.
Southern Idaho ground squirrel populations have crashed
from 40,000 individuals in1984 to only 4,000 today.
The squirrel is threatened by shooting, trapping, poisoning,
habitat loss due to livestock grazing, and the spread
of exotic grasses and weeds. The Bush administration
has refused to process a 1-26-01 petition to list it
as an endangered species.
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