Court Gives New Lifelines to Imperiled Sonoran Pronghorn
Clocking speeds of more than 50 mph, the Pronghorn is the fastest terrestrial mammal on the continent. But in southwest Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, the Pronghorn must outrun and dodge myriad activities conducted by several branches of the military that trains on the Barry M. Goldwater Range. Only 120 of the vanishing animals still remain in the United States.
While each of the federal agencies had considered the impact of its own activities on the Pronghorn -- often determining that they will kill or harass these few remaining animals -- U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle found Monday that none of them had considered whether, taken together, all of these activities may cause the Sonoran Pronghorn population to become extinct. The Endangered Species Act require this analysis, and under the court's ruling, all seven agencies -- the Air Force, the Marines, the Army, the Border Patrol, the Bureau of Land Management, the Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service -- must now undertake it.
"This landmark ruling will ensure that these federal agencies do not collectively drive the Pronghorn to extinction," said Howard Crystal, a partner at Meyer & Glitzenstein, the Washington, D.C.-based public interest law firm that brought the lawsuit on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife and an Arizona activist, Paul Huddy. "These magnificent creatures deserve better, and the court's ruling will force the agencies to make the hard choices necessary to ensure the Sonoran Pronghorn's survival and ultimate recovery."
The court also ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recovery plan for the Pronghorn did not go far enough to insure that the species is brought back to the point at which it is no longer threatened with extinction.
"We are pleased that the court is making these agencies take a hard look at this problem," said William Snape, vice president for law and litigation for Defenders of Wildlife. "With appropriate protections, especially during the species' spring fawning season, we expect that the Sonoran Pronghorn will continue to survive in the desert environment that is its home."
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