Today s listing gives the elusive, rare cat protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Defenders and more than a dozen other conservation groups sued the service a week ago over its failure to carry out a 1998 agreement on the listing. After almost 20 years of delay and numerous lawsuits, this is clearly a victory for the lynx and its forest habitat, said Mike Senatore, Legal Division director for Defenders of Wildlife which has been involved in litigation to protect the lynx for nearly a decade. While we are still waiting to analyze the final rule and to determine how the Fish and Wildlife Service intends to recover the species, we hope that this listing will help ensure the survival of the lynx throughout our northern forests. The only lynx species in North America, the Canada lynx is a mediumsized wild cat that lives in northern forests. The lynx has large feet that function like snowshoes to give the cat the ability to hunt on deep snow.