A lawsuit has been launched by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of property owners in Cedar City, Utah, whose private land effectively is being confiscated by the federal government for the use of a species of rodent that has been determined to have “no commercial value.”

The action by the PLF, which has taken on federal government environmental regulations in several high-profile cases in recent months, is on behalf of members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners – or residents of the Cedar City area.

It names as defendants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Director Daniel M. Ashe, Regional Director Noreen Walsh and others.

The case focuses on the mandated protections for the Utah prairie dog, a type of ground squirrel, or rodent, established by the federal government for owners of private property in the Utah region.

A new rule that was imposed just last fall demands that property owners are not allowed to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect” the animals – including when they are blocking construction, development or the protection of private property.

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