The American lynx will now be protected as an endangered species by the Interior Department, a result of a settlement between the department and environmentalists.
Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the Defenders of Wildlife, said Wednesday the settlement reached with the Justice Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will propose listing the lynx as endangered within the contiguous 48 states by June 30. A final listing decision is not due to June 1999.The reclusive cat, 2 to 31/2 feet long and 10 to 40 pounds with luxurious brownish gray fur, black-tufted ears and a short, black-tipped tail, once ranged from Alaska to Utah and New England. More than two-thirds of those surviving south of Canada are believed to be in Washington state and Montana.
Schlickeisen said the settlement ended six years of litigation over the lynx, a rare wild cat that once roamed freely across much of the northern part of the country. Currently the lynx population is believed to be fewer than 100 animals, he said.
"We hope this is the last chapter in the refusal to protect the declining lynx population in this country," he said in a news release announcing the settlement.
Details of the agreement could not be confirmed Thursday with either the Justice or Interior departments.
Scientists have blamed the decline on trapping, which largely ended in the early 1980s, and loss of habitat from clearcut logging.
Thousands remain in healthy populations in Canada and Alaska.
Lynx inhabit old-growth forests above 4,200 feet elevation, rely on snowshoe hares for 90 percent of their diet and have never been known to attack humans, livestock or pets.