The cats were listed as a threatened species in 2000. However, the USFWS repeatedly missed its own deadlines to start work on a recovery plan, and environmental groups sued last year in federal court in Montana.
Siding with the plaintiffs, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy gave officials 30 days to propose a schedule for completing the recovery plan. Molloy said the history of the case raised skepticism about the agency's ability to get the work done without court intervention. Federal officials previously had pledged to initiate recovery plans in 2007, 2011 and, most recently, by the end of this year.
The lynx is super elusive, and is rarely seen across a 14-state range that includes portions of the Northeast, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes and the Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon. It's unknown how many survive in the U.S. And because the threats to the animal vary significantly across that range, USFWS Assistant Regional Director Mike Thabault said Friday that the recovery plan could take two years or more to complete.
Hopefully they will act sooner rather than later, as the species continues to be impacted by human activities.
Read more about the Canada lynx here.
Photo Credit: fs.usda.gov