The United States must protect endangered wildlife from global warming and other threats within its own borders and not rely on other countries, such as Canada, to do the job, according to a coalition of 10 conservation organizations that announced today its intention to file a legal challenge against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Service violated the Endangered Species Act, say the groups, when it refused to protect wolverines in the United States on the grounds that a healthy population persists in Canada. The Service’s decision is its latest justification for denying long-overdue protections to this imperiled animal — protections that were first petitioned for nearly a decade ago.
“With the wolverine decision, the Bush administration is essentially outsourcing responsibility for our wildlife to other countries,” said David Gaillard of Defenders of Wildlife. “Wolverines are as American as the bald eagle, gray wolf, and grizzly bear, all of which might have vanished from the lower 48 if the same reckless policy were applied to them.”
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