The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service announced today/Thursday that the Preble’s meadow jumping mouse will again be protected in Wyoming under the Endangered Species Act. The Service reinstated protections for the mouse, which is already protected in Colorado, in order to comply with a requested court order. The Preble’s Meadow Jumping mouse was delisted in 2008 because of an interpretation of the law allowing the agency to protect only portions of a species’ range where the Service believed it was most threatened, rather than in all the places where it is found. According to a statement by the Fish and Wildlife service, that interpretation was invalidated by two court rulings. Courts remanded the Preble’s decisions as per the Service’s request. The mouse will return under ESA protections in Wyoming on Saturday, with a special rule in place to allow compliant methods of rodent control, agricultural operations and landscape maintenance.
Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse protections have been reinstated in Wyoming
