In today's Los Angeles News Group publications across Southern California, Audubon California Executive Director Brigid McCormack attacks the petition to delist the Coastal California Gnatcatcher:

It is one thing to argue that a particular species — be it a bird, mammal, fish or amphibian — shouldn’t be listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act. It is another thing to argue that this species shouldn’t be listed because there’s money to be made if we don’t. But it’s a stunning disregard for the natural world to say that the species shouldn’t be protected because it doesn’t exist ...

The scientific community has been quick to reject the research behind this claim as cynical and deeply flawed. To date, no other researchers have duplicated or otherwise validated the results of the developers’ study.

It is high time that we stop lending credence to these shameless, self-serving attempts to overturn the bird’s protected status and focus on saving this species from extinction. It is disappointing that the Service found enough in this petition to warrant a formal review, but nonetheless it is taking input from the public before making a decision later this year.

Read the whole editorial here.

(photo by Marci Koski/USFWS)