sounds like the beginning of a joke...

[Guest guest]

Lawsuit to Seek Endangered Species Protection for a Three-Foot Long, Spitting

Worm

 

MOSCOW, ID — The Center for Biological Diversity, Palouse Prairie Foundation,

Palouse Audubon Society, and Friends of the Clearwater yesterday took the first

step in a lawsuit to protect the giant Palouse earthworm (Driloleirus

americanus) - a three-foot long, spitting worm that is native to parts of Idaho

and Washington - under the Endangered Species Act. The worm was once common but

has been seen only a handful of times in the past 30 years.

 

The groups filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in August

2006 to list the giant Palouse earthworm as an endangered species. The Fish and

Wildlife Service has failed to respond to the petition, despite the fact that

federal law mandated a 90-day finding by November 2006 and a 12-month finding by

August 2007. Today the groups filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to sue the

Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to respond to the petition.

 

 

" The giant Palouse earthworm and the Palouse prairie habitats it depends on are

on the edge of extinction and will be lost forever if we don't act soon, " said

Steve Paulson of Friends of the Clearwater. " The earthworm needs the effective

protection of the Endangered Species Act to survive. "

 

 

 

In 1897, the giant Palouse earthworm was described as " very abundant. " Today,

however, sightings of the species are extremely rare. The only recent confirmed

worm sighting was made on May 27, 2005 by a University of Idaho researcher.

Previously, the giant worm had not been spotted since 1988. Surveys at 46

Palouse sites in 2002 failed to document its presence. But there is hope that

with protection under the Endangered Species Act the earthworm can still be

found and saved.

 

 

 

" Failure to respond to the petition is all too typical of the Bush

administration, which has protected the fewest number of species under the

Endangered Species Act of any administration since the law was passed, " said

Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

" To date, the Bush administration has only protected 58 species, compared to 522

under Clinton and 231 under the first Bush president. " The giant Palouse

earthworm is the largest and longest-lived earthworm remaining on the North

American continent, attaining the length of three feet. It is reported to have a

peculiar flowery smell (Driloleirus is Latin for " lily-like worm " ) and to be

cream-colored or pinkish-white. It lives in permanent burrows as deep as 15 feet

and has been reported to spit at attackers and move quickly through the soil to

escape predators. " This worm is the stuff that legends and fairytales are made

of. What kid wouldn't want to play with a three-foot-long, lily-smelling, soft

pink worm that spits? A pity we're losing it, " said Paulson. The giant Palouse

earthworm lives only in the increasingly rare grassland habitats of the Palouse

region of southeastern Washington and west-central Idaho, which have been

decimated by a combination of agricultural and suburban development, invasive

species, disease, and pesticide pollution. Today, less than one percent of

native Palouse prairie remains, endangering the earthworm and many other

species. Scientists consider the Palouse prairie to be one of the most imperiled

ecosystems in the United States.

 

 

 

" The native Palouse ecosystem is precious. It represents beauty, heritage,

wildlife habitat, drinking water and a clean, simple quality of life; yet this

ecosystem is one of the rarest on earth. Listing the giant Palouse earthworm may

be the only salvation for the Palouse prairie, " said O. Lynne Nelson, who helped

write the petition to protect the earthworm.

 

 

 

More information about the earthworm .

 

 

 

Contact Info:

 

 

 

Noah Greenwald

Center for Biological Diversity

Tel : 503-484-7495

 

 

 

 

Steve Paulson

Friends of the Clearwater

Tel : 208-476-7688

E-mail : suemagoo

 

 

I never thought about the universe, it made me feel small

Never thought about the problems of this planet at all

Global warming, radio-active sites

Imperialistic wrongs and animal rights! No!

Why think of all the bad things when life is so good?

Why help with an 'am' when there's always a 'could'?

Let the whales worry about the poisons in the sea

Outside of California, it's foreign policy

I don't want changes, I have no reactions

Your dilemmas are my distractions

I never looked around, never second-guessed

Then I read some Howard Zinn now I'm always depressed

And now I can't sleep from years of apathy

All because I read a little Noam Chomsky

I'm eating vegetation, 'cause of Fast Food Nation

I'm wearing uncomfortable shoes 'cause of globalization

I'm watching Michael Moore expose the awful truth

I'm listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth

I see no world peace 'cause of zealous armed forces

I eat no breath-mints 'cause they're from de-hoofed horses