The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a proposal to protect seven Brazilian bird species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). If made final, the measure would extend ESA protection to these species. The decision by the Service was published in the Federal Register.
Addition of a foreign species to the federal list of threatened and endangered species places restrictions on the importation of either the animal or its parts. Listing also serves to heighten awareness of the importance of conserving these species among foreign governments, conservation organizations and the public. The seven species are all native to the Atlantic Forest and neighboring regions of southeastern Brazil and include the black-hooded antwren, Brazilian merganser, cherry-throated tanager, fringe-backed fire-eye, Kaempfers tody-tyrant, Margarettas hermit, and southeastern rufous-vented ground-cuckoo.
In July of 2008, the Service published a notice in the Federal Register announcing its petition findings for foreign species and announced that the listing of 30 foreign species, including these seven, is warranted. After studying the best available scientific and commercial information regarding the threats to the species, the Service has concluded that these seven species should be identified under a single proposed rule for three reasons:
1) all seven species are found in the Atlantic Forest and southeastern region of Brazil.
2) the species are subject to similar threats including small population sizes, habitat loss due to deforestation, and ongoing landuse practices.
3) combining species that face similar threats allows the Service to maximize limited resources and increase our ability to complete the listing process for warranted-but-precluded species.
Of the remaining 23 foreign species, proposed listing rules have since been published for 10 species and proposed listing rules for the remaining 13 species are scheduled to be published in the Federal Register by the end of December 2009.
