Paging all fans of small furry animals...
From the article:
Soon, if conservationists have their way, the pika could be the first species in the lower 48 states to get federal endangered species protections primarily because of the effects of climate change.
"It's feeling an exaggerated brunt of global warming," said Greg Loarie, an Earthjustice attorney involved with lawsuits to get the pika protections. "Unlike others, it can't move north. It's stuck."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is scheduled to decide by May 1 whether to take an in-depth look at the pika — a diminutive relative of the rabbit that inhabits 10 Western states — and whether it may need to be on the endangered species list.
The polar bear is already listed because of threats of global warming. The pika could be next. And more petitions naming climate change as a cause of species decline are likely in the coming years, said Dan Ashe, science adviser to the head of the Fish and Wildlife Service.
"It's like the 'check engine' light that comes on in your car. It tells you something's going on here," Ashe said.
For pikas in the Great Basin, which includes parts of Nevada and Utah, the news is already grim.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090404/ap_on_re_us/global_warming_pika
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