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01/29/2005 Entry: "Jumping Mouse Loses Federal Protection"

THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT'S RECORD JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE: Not content with never having done anything to actually move a species off the endangered species list, the Endangered Species Act is now protecting animals that don't exist.

The Preble's meadow jumping mouse, once seen as a costly impediment to development, is now viewed by the government as a critter that never really existed — and is no longer in need of federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The Interior Department said Friday that new DNA research shows the 9-inch mouse, which can launch itself a foot and a half into the air and switch direction in mid-flight, is probably identical to another variety of mouse common enough not to need protection.

"That action is based on new research that indicated the Preble's meadow jumping mouse should not be classified as a separate mouse," Assistant Interior Secretary Craig Manson said Friday, calling it "an example of the use of best available science that was peer-reviewed."

And it only took more than 5 decades to figure out that the mouse didn't exist! I know the Leviathan moves slowly but this is ridiculous.

Read on.