Some animals facing extinction aren’t being helped by the Endangered Species Act thanks to a decision last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place a moratorium on protecting new species. The service said it had to impose the freeze because it was too busy and short on cash from dealing with lawsuits filed by enviros over already-protected species. Thirty-nine species that were on the verge of being listed for protection under the act may now be in danger of extinction, and 236 species that were candidates for listing are also in jeopardy. The population of the Mississippi gopher frog, which once ranged throughout the pine forests of the Gulf Coast, has now dwindled to only 100. The cerulean warbler, a songbird once found in Eastern forests, has declined by 70 percent since 1966.
