U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service wants to delist the wood stork from endangered to threatened, which has Florida conservation groups at odds

Wildlife officials are using a new method to help control the explosive population growth of the invasive snake by tracking down their prey.

The ungainly yet graceful wood stork, which was on the brink of extinction in 1984, has rebounded dramatically in Florida and other Southern states, officials say.

“Florida bonneted bats desperately need critical habitat protection, and the Fish and Wildlife Service has excluded crucial areas threatened by development right now,” said attorney Ragan Whitlock with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The latest figures are showing that 56 manatees have been found dead so far in Florida this year — even more than last year during the same time frame. That's worrying since last year was Florida's second-deadliest year for manatees on record.

They include feeding lettuce for the second straight year, as poor water quality and algae blooms have depleted seagrass beds that provide a key food source for manatees in the Indian River Lagoon.

While an original plan was presented in 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service now wants to designate approximately 1.2 million acres as critical habitat across 13 counties - this marks a 21% reduction from the previous proposal.

"There's an implication that the Fish Wildlife Service removed protections for gopher tortoises. They did not. If we wanted to think of the immediate protection level changes for the species, this finding document found no change," said Jeffrey Goessling of Eckerd College.

Rampant poaching of the ghost orchid has it in serious peril, and estimates of their numbers in the wild range from 750 to 1,500.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says increased protections are not warranted for gopher tortoises in Florida and other states, despite issues such as development moving into the animals’ habitats.

They want to be prepared for when manatees make their winter return to areas depleted of sea grasses.

The conservation groups say the habitat protections have not been updated since 1976.