A missed Endangered Species Act deadline for Indonesia’s blue tree monitor lizard will cost the federal government $24,000 in attorneys fees and costs, under an agreement finalized Friday that also sets a new ESA decision deadline.
Prompted by a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to decide by March 27, 2025, whether the lizard warrants listing as threatened or endangered. Because the environmental group effectively prevailed in the missed-deadline lawsuit, it was also able to seek federal government reimbursement for its litigation expenses.
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned FWS on behalf of the vividly colored, 3-foot-long lizard in April 2022. The lizard inhabits the small island of Batanta and surrounding islets off the island of New Guinea in Indonesia’s Papua province, according to the petition.
“The international pet trade is the biggest threat to the blue tree monitor lizard,” the petition stated, adding that “the species’ rarity in the wild and distinctive blue hue have made it particularly popular and, as a result, expensive in the trade.”
