Layoffs at Wildlife Agency Delay Species’ Protections, Suit Says

Widespread staff cuts at the US Fish and Wildlife Service have led to unlawful delays in Endangered Species Act protections for salamander species, a conservation group alleged in a suit filed Thursday.

The Trump administration has violated deadlines to finalize critical habitat designations for the Kern Canyon slender salamander and the relictual slender salamander, the Center for Biological Diversity said in a complaint filed with the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has thrown the agency “into chaos by firing hundreds of employees, enacting hiring freezes and by other means,” the group ...