The Fish and Wildlife Service this week slashed the Western habitat for the Canada lynx by 32 percent.
The wildlife agency made habitat alterations for the wildcat in the Mountain West, where officials added new critical habitat in Colorado while cutting habitat in the Yellowstone area. The new designations, published in the Federal Register on Thursday, revise habitat maps last made in 2014.
The Canada lynx, a fluffy wildcat with tufted ears and snowshoe-like paws, inhabits primarily boreal forests in areas of the Mountain West, Upper Midwest and Maine. The cat is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The lynx’s predilection for snowy environments makes it particularly vulnerable to climate change and increasing forest fires.
