Mexican garter snake 'warrants protection'

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that the Mexican garter snake warrants protection as an endangered species.

The unit of the US Department of the Interior was responding to two lawsuits brought by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and suggested that there have been years of delays in protecting the critically endangered snake.

Noah Greenwald, biodiversity programme director for the CBD, wants to obtain a schedule for protecting all of the US's listed species within three years.

He said: "Despite recognizing that the Mexican garter snake is near extinction in the United States and severely threatened in Mexico, the Bush administration has again decided to delay protection for the snake."

The Mexican garter snake is found in desert-grasslands or along stream in valley floors in central and south-eastern Arizona to Oaxaca, Mexico.

It has faced threats of extinction from habitat degradation and destruction.

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