Feds Decline Endangered Listing for Pika

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected a petition to give a western rodent endangered species protection based on projections of future global warming.

Environmental activists assert the American pika, a small, gerbil-like rodent that lives at high elevations in 10 western states, will be unable to cope with global warming projected by United Nations computer models. Fish and Wildlife scientists, however, have determined the rodent can adapt to warmer temperatures, including temperature increases of more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit as predicted by the most alarmist of computer models.

“We believe that in some low elevations pikas are likely to decline, but we see no danger of extinction through 2050,” reported Fish and Wildlife field supervisor Larry Crist, who has studied the pika issue.