Newsflash
November 24, 2008 – Mexican Garter Snake Warrants Protection as Endangered Species; But Protection Again Delayed by Bush Administration
Oases in the desert, Southwestern streams are among the most delicate ecosystems on the planet. In these shallow, ephemeral waters, species like the Mexican garter snake once carved out a precarious existence. But these highly adapted, rare animals are no match for pumping, livestock grazing, and flood control, which have all but dried up most desert rivers. And voracious exotics like bullfrogs, which eat the snakes, have added to the species’ woes.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Not listed
PETITIONED:
2003; denied 2006; suit filed 2007
RANGE: From southeastern Arizona to Oaxaca, Mexico; may also be found along the Agua Fria, Oak Creek, and Verde rivers, and along some parts of the Salt and Black rivers
THREATS: Destruction, modification, and deterioration of habitat; disappearance of native prey; and spread of nonnative predator species
POPULATION TREND: Population trends clearly demonstrate that the Mexican garter snake is declining in the United States — many populations show negative trends, low densities, and the possibility of extirpation. There may be only a few hundred snakes present in the United States, and current trends for the Mexican garter snake in the country can be expected to continue. Although little is known about the snake in Mexico, population decline can be expected there as well, since similar threats are present.
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SAVING THE MEXICAN GARTER SNAKE
The Center launched its campaign to protect the Mexican garter snake under the Endangered Species Act in 2003. After the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to respond to our petition to add the garter snake to the endangered species list, we took the case to the courts and reached a settlement agreement requiring a decision from the agency.
In increasingly common fashion under the Bush administration, the agency’s decision ran counter to the recommendations of its own biologists. When the agency ruled to deny the snake protection, the report accompanying the decision nevertheless recognized that the snake is declining, severely threatened, and extirpated from 85 to 90 percent of its U.S. range. The Center is working to expose the administration’s politicization of science and to reverse improper actions by high-ranking Interior Department officials to keep the garter snake and other highly imperiled species off the threatened and endangered lists. In 2007, we filed suit against the Fish and Wildlife Service to overturn the decision denying Endangered Species Act protection to the Mexican garter snake, and in May of the next year, the Service finally announced that it would revisit the species’ status. But appallingly, after more than five years of ignoring the snake’s need, in November 2008 the Service once again denied the species federal safeguards, making it a mere “candidate” for protection.
Across the Southwest, the Center watchdogs activities that drain our desert rivers and deprive the garter snake and other species of their last best habitat.
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Contact: Noah Greenwald
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