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Who's against the bald eagle?

Print | Comments () Posted by David Beard, Globe Staff March 25, 2008 07:14 AM

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While the Bush administration is increasingly reluctant to use the Endangered Species Act, more and more species are losing habitat, with some becoming extinct.

In 2001, the Lake Sammamish kokanee, a landlocked sockeye salmon, went extinct after being denied an emergency listing by the administration, according to the Washington Post.

Last year, genetically pure Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits disappeared after the US Interior Department declined to protect critical habitat for the species.

According to the Post, administration officials estimate more than 280 domestic species should be on the list but have been "precluded" because of more pressing priorities.

Federal courts have intervened on some cases, with one ordering the Interior Department to redesignate bald eagles in Arizona's Sonoran Desert as threatened after the agency delisted the entire species last summer.

On March 18, the environmental group WildEarth Guardians filed suit against the Interior Department in the group's efforts to get the iconic black-tailed prairie dog declared as an endangered species. According to the group, the once-prevalent prairie dogs have been eliminated from 98 percent of their historic range, with shooting, poisoning, disease and habitat destruction among the major reasons.

A day later, the group demanded the US Forest Service take immediate steps to prevent the extinction of the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.

The group asserts that more than 6,000 species should be added to the 1,351 currently under federal protection.

In one policy shift reported by the Post, senior Interior officials are revising previous considerations of threats to various species based on their populations within US borders. By making that shift, administration officials could argue that species such as the wolverine and the jaguar do not need protection because they also exist in Canada or Mexico.