Kirtland’s Snake Unlawfully Denied Endangered Status, Suit Says

The US Fish and Wildlife Service unlawfully denied Endangered Species Act protections to Kirtland’s snake, environmental groups alleged in a federal complaint.

Agriculture, urbanization, and climate change have destroyed much of the wetland habitats across the Midwest that the small, nonpoisonous snakes need to survive, the Center for Biological Diversity and Hoosier Environmental Council said. As a result, the snakes are disappearing from their native range and are expected to see significant declines in coming decades, the suit claimed.

But the groups say that agency still denied the groups’ petition to list the species, concluding in its Twelve-Month Finding that ...