The federal government will extend protections to all imperiled Canada lynx in the lower 48 U.S. states, but wildlife advocates said on Thursday it was ignoring important parts of the rare cats' range and they vowed to challenge the move in court.
Thickly furred lynx roam through high country from Maine to Washington and south through the Rocky Mountains. They are classified as threatened in the lower 48 states under the Endangered Species Act.
Amid calls from conservation groups for greater protections, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a rule to be published later on Friday that it was extending the act's protections to all lynx "where found" in the contiguous United States. The law broadly bans killing or injuring imperiled animals without a special permit.