Today, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it intends to begin the process of removing Canada lynx from the endangered species list, despite the fact that these rare cats are still in need of our help.
Climate change, logging, development, motorized access, and trapping threaten the lynx and its habitat. In fact, the best science tells us that lynx are worse off now than in 2000, when they were first listed under the Endangered Species Act. A 2016 draft assessment of lynx populations concluded that they would decline over time, and even die out by the end of the century, without increased protections for the cat. Yet today’s final assessment came to the conclusion that lynx did not warrant protection.
What changed? In a word, politics. The Trump administration is dedicated to climate denial and to selling off our public lands to the oil and gas industry, not to safeguarding our wildlife. If the Service moves forward in delisting the Canada lynx, Guardians, the Western Environmental Law Center, and our partners are prepared to challenge this deeply flawed move in court.
Read the press release.
