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Photo by James Harding |
CHICAGO— The Center for Biological Diversity
filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service today over the agency’s failure to grant Endangered Species Act
protection to the Kirtland’s snake. The rare snake, now found only in scattered
populations in the north-central Midwest, has sharply declined due to the loss
of its prairie wetland habitat.
“Time is quickly running out for
this rare reptile,” said Collette Adkins Giese, a Center lawyer and biologist
who works to save imperiled amphibians and reptiles. “With protection of the
Endangered Species Act, the snake would benefit from greater emphasis on saving
its vanishing wetland habitats, which are also important for humans because
they prevent floods and filter surface water.”
The Kirtland’s snake was once
known from more than 100 counties in eight states. Since 1980 it has been
observed in only a quarter of those counties. The current distribution of this
snake is centered in metropolitan areas in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana
and Kentucky. It is often found in vacant lots associated with streams or
wetlands in remnants of much larger populations that have been reduced by
urbanization and are rapidly dying out.
“There’s broad scientific
consensus that amphibians and reptiles are in the midst of a profound,
human-driven extinction crisis that requires prompt action,” said Adkins Giese.
“And the Kirtland’s snake simply can’t afford any more delay in receiving the
protections of the Endangered Species Act, America’s most powerful law for
saving species and putting them on the road to recovery.”
In 2010 the Center and its allies petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection
for the Kirtland’s snake, as well as hundreds of other southeastern aquatic
species. In 2011 the Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the snake “may
warrant” protection as an endangered species, but it has failed to make the
required finding on whether to give the animal federal protection.
The Kirtland’s snake Clonophis kirtlandi
is a small, nonpoisonous snake that feeds on earthworms, slugs and leeches. It
is state-listed as endangered in Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania (last
recorded in 1965), and threatened in lllinois and Ohio. Historically most of
the snake’s habitat has been lost to agricultural land use, but as urban and
suburban sprawl continue to encroach on formerly undeveloped lands, residential
development has become a substantial driver the snake’s decline. Collection for
the pet trade poses another threat to many populations.
The Kirtland’s snake is one of 10 species across the country that
the Center is prioritizing for Endangered Species Act protection this fiscal
year. Under a settlement agreement with the Service that expedites protection
decisions for 757 species, the Center can push forward 10
decisions per year. The other priority species for 2014 include the Alexander
Archipelago wolf from Alaska, the San Bernardino flying squirrel, the
Ichetucknee siltsnail from Florida, the black-backed woodpecker from California
and South Dakota, and four freshwater species from the southeastern United
States including two fish, a mussel and a crayfish. The species are facing
extinction for many reasons, chief among them habitat loss from logging and
development, global climate change, pollution, groundwater decline and water
overuse.
Under the landmark settlement 118
species have already gained Endangered Species Act protection, and another 24
have been proposed for protection.