U.S. denies full protection for Pacific fisher, relative of the weasel

A Pacific fisher, a weasel-like woodland mammal indigenous to the forests of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S., is seen in this undated handout photo. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife/Handout via REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday denied Endangered Species Act protection to a weasel-like woodland mammal called the Pacific fisher across most of its West Coast range, except for a dwindling population in California's southern Sierras.

The final decision from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sharply criticized by conservation groups, marked a reversal of the agency's 2019 proposal to list the Pacific fisher as a threatened species from northern California to the Canadian border.