CHEYENNE, Wyo. – A jumping mouse with a tail longer than its body has returned to the threatened species list in Wyoming after a court ruling.
A federal judge in Denver last month ruled against a two-state classification for the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the mouse as threatened in Colorado but not in Wyoming.
The ruling puts the mouse back on the threatened list in Wyoming effective Friday.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/oK5XRk) environmentalists praised the change. Wyoming Republican Rep. Cynthia Lummis blasted it, saying it’s based not on the best available science but the “best available lawyer.”
The mouse has been on and off the threatened list since 1998 amid concerns about loss of its streamside habitat.
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Information from: Casper Star-Tribune – Casper, http://www.trib.com
