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HELENA, Mont. — Environmental groups sued the federal government Tuesday to protect wolverines under the Endangered Species Act, saying the Interior Department disregarded scientific conclusions that the species was in jeopardy.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the species Endangered Species Act protection in March by saying that even if wolverines disappeared from the Lower 48, the species would survive because there are larger populations in Canada.
Not counting Alaska, the U.S. wolverine population consists of about 500 animals, the Fish and Wildlife Service estimates, a figure the plaintiffs say may be high by 20 percent or more.
