PHOENIX — A wildlife advocacy group is taking legal action to protect an Arizona snake that they say has become increasingly endangered by urban development in the Valley.
The Center for Biological Diversity announced Thursday it was suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not granting federal protections to the Tucson shovel-nosed snake.
The small, colorful snakes are known for burrowing through the desert's sandy soils and preying on scorpions.
According to the center, this snake species is vulnerable because its habitat range is limited to Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties.
"These counties include Phoenix and Tucson, and they are experiencing some of the most rapid development in the country," the group's lawsuit states.
Arizona's population has grown by at least 12% over the last decade, census numbers show, and is projected to keep growing in the next decade.
The shovel-nosed snake only lives on flat valley bottoms that are prime areas for development, the center says.
As a result of the ongoing construction taking place across the state, wildlife activists want the government to grant protections given under the Endangered Species Act to Arizona's shovel-nosed snake.
After petitioning and failing to get the U.S. Wildlife Service to grant such protections, the group now wants the courts to intervene. The center claims studies show that 39% of the snake's historic habitat has been lost to agriculture and urban development.
“These sand-swimming snakes need federal protection because reckless development in Tucson and Phoenix is just gobbling up their habitat,” said Noah Greenwald, the center's endangered species director said. “To save the Tucson shovel-nosed snake we have to save the beautiful Sonoran Desert too.”
The government has previously ruled that listing the snake as an endangered species was "not warranted."
The plaintiff's lawsuit is asking the courts to vacate the Wildlife Service's previous findings and compel the agency to immediately begin another species status review.
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