Pygmy rabbits may get reprieve

For those of you cheering the linkurl:pygmy rabbit, ;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53232/ you can let up a restrained cheer today - a small one, perhaps, in keeping with the size of the animals. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), bowing to a linkurl:September court order, ;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/53716/ is reconsidering whether more members of the tiny species should be covered under the Endangered Species Act. The agency had previously denied coverage of the species, which triggered a 2003 petition by several groups. As a USFWS release today noted, US District Judge Edward Lodge said the agency ''acted in a manner that was arbitrary and capricious and contrary to the applicable law,'' and ordered the new finding, known as a 90-day finding, by December 26, 2007. In today's release, the USFWS noted that ''the pygmy rabbit may warrant federal protection as a threatened or endangered species.'' The announcement relates to pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis...