PHOENIX (CN) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar violated the Endangered Species Act by refusing to protect the Sonoran desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), the WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project claim in Federal Court.
Plaintiffs say the tortoise faces multiple threats, including fragmentation of its habitat by, among other things, the U.S.-Mexico border wall, livestock grazing, urban expansion, off-road vehicles, disease, climate change, poaching and collecting.
The environmentalists are represented by Samantha Ruscavage-Barr of Santa Fe, N.M.
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