The Center for Biological Diversity has taken legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for denying Endangered Species Act protections to the rare southern Berry Cave Salamander. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses the federal agency of failing to consider available scientific data and violating the Endangered Species Act.
The Berry Cave Salamander, found in isolated caves in east Tennessee, is facing threats from rapid growth, farm runoff, climate change, and legacy contamination from old quarry mines which are degrading its habitat. Despite a 2003 petition to list the salamander as endangered or threatened, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded it did not warrant protections after years of delays and legal battles.
Representatives from the Southern Environmental Law Center, who are representing the Center for Biological Diversity, emphasized the importance of protecting the unique species which is found nowhere else on earth and is facing a decline in population.
The lawsuit alleges that the federal agency may have denied protections to the salamander due to an internal “quota” system in its southeastern regional office limiting the number of species recognized as endangered. Endangered species designations provide legal protections for plants and animals on the brink of extinction, preventing their sale or removal and requiring the government to develop plans for restoring their populations and protecting their habitats.
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