The Center for Biological Diversity has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force it to ensure protections for 12 plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act, including the alligator snapping turtle.
Alligator snapping turtles are enormous, prehistoric-looking reptiles that can grow to 200 pounds and can live almost 100 years.
These slow-moving, largely sedentary turtles spend so much of their time sitting on river bottoms waiting for food that algae grows thick on their shells.
The turtles have no natural enemies, however, their populations have declined by up to 95% over much of their historic range due to overharvesting and unchecked habitat degradation.
The turtles are also easy prey for hunters that feed world markets for the exhibition and consumption of the turtles.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, seeks protections for the gargantuan turtles, which were listed as a threatened species in 2021.
Despite finding these imperiled turtles deserve protection under the Act, the agency failed to finalize those protections for more than a year, leading to this week’s litigation.
Alligator snapping turtles are enormous, prehistoric-looking reptiles that can grow to 200 pounds and can live almost 100 years.
These slow-moving, largely sedentary turtles spend so much of their time sitting on river bottoms waiting for food that algae grows thick on their shells.
The turtles have no natural enemies, however, their populations have declined by up to 95% over much of their historic range due to overharvesting and unchecked habitat degradation.
The turtles are also easy prey for hunters that feed world markets for the exhibition and consumption of the turtles.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, seeks protections for the gargantuan turtles, which were listed as a threatened species in 2021.
Despite finding these imperiled turtles deserve protection under the Act, the agency failed to finalize those protections for more than a year, leading to this week’s litigation.
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