Environmentalists have returned to federal court in hopes of securing Endangered Species Act protections for the Sonoran desert tortoise.
In the latest round of a yearslong dispute, the Tucson Herpetological Society and several allied organizations filed suit Wednesday challenging the Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision not to list the tortoise as threatened or endangered.
“The long-term survival of the Sonoran desert tortoise is severely threatened by ever-increasing losses of habitat due to development and other unmitigated uses, and by ever-increasing drought due to climate change,” said Maggie Fusari, representative of both the Tucson Herpetological Society and the Desert Tortoise Council.
The Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians joined in the lawsuit filed by the Western Environmental Law Center.
