Last Updated :
04 September 2009 at 19:50 IST
Desert tortoise to hit mining in US
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Metals mining and exploration in southwest Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, is facing a strange threat from desert tortoise.
With the US government mulling to add desert tortoise in the Sonoran region in the list of threatened or endangered species, mining activities in the region will be banned. If that happens desert tortoise will be halting the mining of metals in that regions.
US Fish & Wildlife Service has recently announced that it is considering declaring the Sonoran population of the desert tortoise to the federal list of threatened or endangered species.
Sonoran desert tortoise represents several hundred miles spanning several states and the US-Mexico border. A petition filed in 2008 had sought to limit livestock grazing, urban growth and development, mining and international border patrol activities in tortoise areas.
The government estimated 4,670 mining claims are found in the habitat occupied by the Sonoran desert tortoise. As of 2003, 1,096 of these remained active while 3,574 had been closed.
Gold mining companies operating in the Mojave Desert in the 1980s during another time of desert tortoise preservation may recall the simple act of handling a Sonoran desert tortoise may cause an individual to voice the contents of its bladder in defense. This loss of water may jeopardize its life.
Desert tortoises that are stressed by mining activities can also be more prone to respiratory illnesses.
The Bureau of Land Management now considers the Sonoran Desert tortoise a sensitive species which requires a rangewide management strategy for management of its habitat. Significant land use protections are already allocated to the tortoise on National Park Service lands.
Meanwhile, the FWS advised that the Sonoran desert tortoises, which are now the household pets of many Arizona families, not be released back in the wild. Released captive tortoises pose a threat to wild populations through the spread of disease and genetic contamination.
NCDEX CHANAJUN12 20 June 2012
contract was trading at
Rs 0 . What's your view on it?
After reading this article, people also read:
