Florida's 'endangered' list:
Manatee stays, but brings
the gray wolf with it
florida today •
— After a decade of debate and untold
state money and manpower, the manatee still will be
classified "endangered" in Florida.
But so will the gray wolf, Eskimo curlew and other
creatures seldom, if ever, seen in the Sunshine State,
under a quirk of new regulations for how Florida
lists its species in peril.
But state wildlife officials hope the rules they passed
unanimously this week will help calm debate over
species with low or dwindling numbers, allowing
biologists instead to focus on bringing them back
from the brink.
"With the rules we're proposing, we would no longer
evaluate anything that's federally listed," said Elsa
Haubold, leader of the state's imperiled species
listing team. "There's no point in duplicating effort
with the federal government at this point, especially
when it leads to this controversy with the public."
