Judge Rules Feds Should Reconsider Habitat for Canada Lynx, Including in NM and Wyoming
The U.S. government was wrong to exclude large areas of the Rocky Mountains when it designated almost 40,000 square miles of habitat as critical to the survival of imperiled Canada lynx, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Montana ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider adding more habitat for the wild cats in several states, including its southern range in Wyoming, Colorado and north-central New Mexico.
The judge cited the presence of a reproducing lynx population in Colorado. Agency officials had earlier concluded that area was “not essential” for the recovery of the species, pointing in part to low population densities of snowshoe hares that lynx eat.
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Photo: The Canada Lynx – AP Photo/David Zalubowski