FWS Sued Over Failure to Protect Rare Snail Species

The US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) is being sued for allegedly failing to protect a rare Florida snail under the Endangered Species Act.

Center for Biological Diversity attorney Jacki Lopez says the Ichetucknee siltsnail "may not be the most charismatic animal," according to the Associated Press (AP), but its decline serves as an indicator that steps need to be taken to protect the animal and its habitat.

The tiny freshwater snail, also known as the sand grain snail, lives in a considerably small habitat - a mere 10 square yards of submerged mosses and cypress roots near Ichetucknee Springs State Park, in North Florida. And with upstream pollution and groundwater pumping threatening this practically negligible habitat, it's amazing that the two- to three-millimeter-wide critter hasn't already disappeared.

"Its extremely limited habitat, coupled with ongoing impacts to water quality, make this freshwater species faced with eminent extinction," Lopez wrote.

The shiny brown snail is among eight of ten species from Florida the center threatened to sue over.

To help save the snail, in 2011 the center petitioned to protect this and nine other imperiled Southeast aquatic species under the Endangered Species Act. It reached a huge legal settlement with the FWS, dictating that the agency had to decide whether to put 757 different animals on the endangered species list, the Ichetucknee siltsnail included.

Although 118 species have been added to the endangered list and 24 proposed for protection as a result, the FWS paid no attention to the poor snail, according to the blog New Times Broward Palm Beach.

The center filed a lawsuit against the wildlife service Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C. Florida-based wildlife service spokesman Jeff Fleming said the agency is reviewing hundreds of species - including the snails - for protection, the AP reported.