Environmentalists think they have sniffed out an Endangered Species Act violation harmful to the plains spotted skunk.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, an Omaha-based organization called Grasslands Unlimited called out the Fish and Wildlife Service for allegedly missing an ESA deadline triggered by a listing petition. The group petitioned on July 8, 2025, to list the plains spotted skunk as endangered or threatened but still hasn’t received the initial determination that was due within 90 days, according to the suit.
“The plains spotted skunk is rapidly disappearing from its historic range and we don’t have time to wait for the FWS to take action on their own,” Grasslands Unlimited Executive Director Trevor Pellerite said Tuesday, adding that “what was once a very common animal across the Great Plains has become rare in some areas and completely absent in many others.”
A previous ESA listing petition was filed on the skunk’s behalf in 2012. In 2023, the FWS determined that federal protections were not warranted. Since then, researchers have reported a notable decline in the skunk’s population across Nebraska and Kansas.
