Spurious species: mice vs. landowners.IN 1998, THE U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Preble's meadow jumping mouse Preble's meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius preblei) is a subspecies of jumping mouse, native to upland habitats in North America. It is listed as Threatened under the United States Endangered Species Act; there is a major debate about whether it is a valid taxon. , which inhabits river valleys along the eastern flank of the Rockies, as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (16 U.S.C.A. §§ 1531 et seq.) was enacted to protect animal and plant species from extinction by preserving the ecosystems in which they survive and by providing programs for their conservation. , leaving many landowners unable to develop their land. More than 31,000 acres of private and public property were effectively locked up. That might change. Last year Rob Roy Rob Roy [Scottish Gaelic,=red Rob], 1671–1734, Scottish freebooter, whose real name was Robert MacGregor. He is remembered chiefly as he figures in Sir Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy (1818). Ramey, then-curator of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science The Denver Museum Of Nature and Science (DMNS) is the main natural history museum in Denver, Colorado. Home to a number of exhibits, the museum focuses on research and education of the Denver Metro Area. , published a study in Animal Conservation concluding, based on genetic and morphological comparisons, that the hapless rodent was no different from other, more common jumping mice. Landowners soon petitioned to have the mouse removed from the endangered species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. list. "The federal government has effectively shut off tens of millions of dollars of economic development," property-rights activist Kent Holsinger told The Wall Street Journal, "based on saving a species that we now know doesn't even exist." Biologists at the Fish and Wildlife Service hurriedly conducted another genetic study, which contradicted Ramey's. As a review panel debates the proper classification of the creature, the fate of the mouse--and of the people who own its habitat is up in the air. |
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