A dozen environmental groups sued the Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday for allegedly missing an Endangered Species Act deadline to designate critical habitat for the North American wolverine.
With only about 300 wolverines remaining in the Lower 48 states, the environmentalists say time is of the essence.
“Wolverines need critical habitat protections now,” Lizzy Pennock, carnivore co-existence attorney at WildEarth Guardians, said in a statement, adding that “the Fish and Wildlife Service cannot keep shirking its legal duty to provide meaningful protections for this species that is already down to a few hundred individuals.”
The FWS listed the wolverine as threatened in November 2023, citing the dangers that a warming planet pose to a snow-dependent animal like the wolverine.
