Preble's mouse off list in Wyo.

Associated Press

Published July 9, 2008 at 10:23 a.m.
Updated July 10, 2008 at 12:03 a.m.

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Photo by AP/U.S. Department of Interior

A Preble's meadow jumping mouse captured at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site in Denver. Federal officials announced that they have removed the Preble's Meadow Jumping Mouse from the threatened species list in Wyoming, but it remains on the threatened list in Colorado.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it will remove the Preble's meadow jumping mouse from the threatened-species list in Wyoming but keep the animal on the list in Colorado.

The government said that the mouse can be delisted in Wyoming because new populations have been confirmed in habitat not at risk for development. But in Colorado, home construction and other types of development continue to threaten the mouse's habitat, Fish and Wildlife officials said.

"Much of Preble's riparian habitat in Colorado has been severely altered or destroyed by human activities," said Steve Guertin, director of Fish and Wildlife's Mountain-Prairie Region.

"Continued rapid development is expected along Colorado's Front Range, as the population continues to grow," he said. "Without the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act, much of Preble's habitat would be lost."

The Preble's mouse, a largely nocturnal mammal with a tail twice the length of its 3-inch body, lives mostly in streamside habitats thick with vegetation and adjacent foothills of southeastern Wyoming and along part of Colorado's Front Range, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. It can jump as far as 3 feet to escape predators.

Environmentalists, including the Center for Native Ecosystems, reacted to the announcement by saying they are preparing to file suit to restore the mouse's threatened status in Wyoming.

"They're using a political boundary, a state line, which is totally arbitrary, to decide which mice still deserve protection. That's not the intent of the Endangered Species Act, and that won't accomplish recovery for the mouse," said Erin Robertson, a senior staff biologist with the Denver- based center. "Wyoming has some of the best recovery habitat for the mouse, and it makes no sense to cut it out of protection," she said.

The Preble's mouse has been listed as a threatened species since 1998, when the decision sparked a scientific debate over whether the animal is a distinct subspecies of jumping mouse or is genetically indistinguishable from other subspecies of jumping mice.

Fish and Wildlife announced last fall its preliminary finding that the Preble's mouse is distinct and that continued listing was warranted in Colorado but not in Wyoming.

• July 9, 2008

  11:01 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Scott writes:

  YIOTA asks: "Great! When does the hunting season open?"

  Answer: Right after Prairie Rat season closes. :-)

  Scott

• July 9, 2008

  2:30 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Squatch writes:

  They sure love their Prairie Rats in Boulder County.

• July 9, 2008

  7:55 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  PMSXpress writes:

  Not everyone loves them in Boulder County Squatch. Just those that live in the city limits and don't have to deal with them on a daily basis.

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