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Environmental Activist Group Files Suit on Saving Rare AZ Snail, Where It Is Should Raise Eyebrows
Red State ^ | June 03, 2026 | Becca Lower

Posted on 06/03/2026 10:05:59 PM PDT by Red Badger

It seems like, without fail, the activist Left seeks out ways of using the legal system to get whatever radical policy they want retained via a judge's ruling, or stop some Conservative policy that half of the American people overwhelmingly voted for during a recent presidential election.

Such might be tha case in this new story, where an environmental group has filed suit in my state of Arizona against the Trump administration ... over the habitat of a rare species of desert spring snail.

But the fact that this snail can only live where President Trump is planning on building a second border wall should raise thinking people's eyebrows:

An environmental group is taking legal action against the Trump administration, claiming a second U.S.-Mexico border wall could wipe out a rare desert snail species found only in a single Arizona spring.https://t.co/9gUZyGGZ9O— KTAR News 92.3 (@KTAR923) June 1, 2026

Here are some details:

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to force federal officials to finalize Endangered Species Act protections for the Quitobaquito tryonia. The tiny springsnail, which is roughly the size of a poppy seed, lives exclusively within Quitobaquito Springs inside Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the Arizona border.

According to the Center, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined in 2023 that the snail deserved an endangered listing but missed its legal deadline to finalize the protection.

“Federal officials are stalling while one of North America’s rarest animals inches toward extinction,” Russ McSpadden, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center, said in a statement. “The Quitobaquito tryonia lives in a tiny ribbon of desert water that could be destroyed for the useless political theatre of Trump’s second border wall.”

The report linked above, from Phoenix news radio station, KTAR, continued:

The lawsuit comes as contractors prepare to build a second border wall approximately 100 feet north of the existing barrier. Environmentalists warn the planned path runs directly through the fragile wetland area, which could disrupt the spring’s hydrologic functions and water retention.

The entire habitat for the snail, a freshwater spring flowing into a pond, is only about one-third the size of a soccer field.

The spring also holds deep cultural significance for the Hia C-eḍ Oʼodham and Tohono O’odham people. Additionally, the waters support two other federally protected species: the endangered Quitobaquito pupfish and the Sonoyta mud turtle.

...

The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue its protection for the springsnail.

You may have caught the part of the reporting about the tribes' potential concerns over the lands. That connects nicely with another similar story on lawsuits in a minute.

This is a possibly nefarious pattern by environmental and tribal activist groups, who sue with the understanding that the lawsuits can drag on for years.

Case in point: A similar rare snail was the focus of a 2023 lawsuit about a proposed lithum mine in what's called the Thacker Pass on the Oregon-Nevada border - one of a series of lawsuits that dragged on under the Biden admininstration. In that situation, there was also a tribal legal dispute over sacred lands with the project.

From Lithium to Rare Earths, New U.S. Technologies Threaten China’s Toxic Grip on Critical Minerals - VIP

The result? The judge in the case dismissed the tribes' claims, in late 2023, that building the mine would be illegal. And all of the other lawsuits eventually failed.

In fact, the current Trump administration ended up making the whole thing a national security win - in Oct. 2025 - buying a minority (5 percent) stake into the Thacker Pass lithium mining project as joint venture with General Motors. Readers might recall around the same time that Trump approved a new mining road in Alaska for upping our domestic copper and zinc production.

Trump Admin Announces Huge TN Deal That Will Lower Our Reliance on China's Critical Minerals

Here's the thing the Left needs to get straight about these vicious lawsuits: not every piece of land in our country needs to be a park. And as much as I appreciate what snails and earthworms do to aerate the topsoil, they aren't as important as human beings - and human beings' safety as a nation. That's a major difference between Conservatives and the Democrats - and something voters should keep in mind as the primaries across the nation play out this summer.

The suit, filed Thursday, May 28, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Tucson Division, names U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik and Interior Sec. Doug Burgum as defendants. You can read the full lawsuit here.

U.S. Department of the Interior, meanwhile, posted this on X - without comment about the lawsuit - on Wednesday:

Did you know that we partner with the @DeptofWar to help protect wildlife?

Across military lands, we work together to conserve fish, wildlife, and plants through habitat restoration and on-the-ground conservation work.

Military readiness and wildlife conservation often go hand… pic.twitter.com/y7qG56owAY— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) June 3, 2026



TOPICS: Food; Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Society
KEYWORDS: arizona; border; lawfare; obstruction; security; undermining
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1 posted on 06/03/2026 10:05:59 PM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Kill the snails.


2 posted on 06/03/2026 10:09:09 PM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
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To: ConservativeMind

They could be bred by the millions and feed all of France!.....................


3 posted on 06/03/2026 10:10:54 PM PDT by Red Badger (Iryna Zarutska, May 22, 2002 Kyiv, Ukraine – August 22, 2025 Charlotte, North Carolina Say her name)
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To: Red Badger

Broil them in butter, taste like chicken.


4 posted on 06/03/2026 10:18:36 PM PDT by Equine1952 (MM1SS SASOBe)
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To: Red Badger

What’s that picture of? That’s not a shell for a snail that’s “the size of a poppy seed”.


5 posted on 06/03/2026 10:25:05 PM PDT by dayglored (This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24)
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To: Equine1952
Whenever anybody wants to add a boat ramp or anything else along the Connecticut River the enviro nuts send out their divers who come up with a "rare" snail to try to stop the project.

The same "rare" snail.

If the things are so rare how come they show up at every project?

6 posted on 06/03/2026 10:25:09 PM PDT by Mogger ( 7th generation Vermonter, refugee in New Hampshire hoping NH remains sane.)
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To: Red Badger
There are hundreds of different springsnail species distributed throughout the US Southwest, each species completely adapted to its particular spring: water pH, minerals, vegetation, temperature, etc. They typically can't be relocated to another spring because conditions won't match, or there will be another species that out-competes them, etc.

I can't seem to get myself overly exercised about any particular springsnail species getting wiped out, because face it, springs change, oases dry up, sh*t happens. It's not all Trump's fault.

Frickin' do-gooders and scientists looking for grants are doubtless concerned as heck about every individual species, but species around the world come and go by the thousands every day. It's life, guys.

7 posted on 06/03/2026 10:41:49 PM PDT by dayglored (This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalms 118:24)
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To: Mogger

That’s amazing! Little buggers get around, huh? VARRROOM! Speedy Gonzales! Eat MY DUST. Err bow wake.🙄🙄


8 posted on 06/03/2026 10:44:17 PM PDT by Equine1952 (MM1SS SASOBe)
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To: Red Badger
Parasites transmitted by snails:

Angiostrongylus cantonensis: also known as the rat lung parasite, it infects snails and can be transmitted to humans, causing eosinophilic meningitis.

Schistosoma: This parasite causes schistosomiasis, a disease that can damage the host's internal organs. Freshwater snails are usually the intermediate hosts.

Fascioliasis liver disease: One of the diseases that snails can transmit to humans is called fascioliasis. This is a liver disease that is caused by two species of parasites. These are Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica, also known as liver flukes.

Angiostrongyliasis: This is a type of parasitic disease that originates when snails or poorly washed vegetables are ingested, which can carry larvae of a parasite known as Angiostrongylus costaricensis. This parasite lodges in the blood vessels of the intestine in humans and can cause serious symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and in more serious cases can trigger peritonitis.

No pity for evil snails. Let 'em die.

9 posted on 06/03/2026 10:48:21 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: Red Badger

A snail lives only in a single spring. Like I believe that, or care.

Much like the spotted owl lives only in Oregon old growth forests, when the truth is that the owl will nest anywhere, just like every other owl.

A hoot owl nests in an old plum tree right beside my house, every year. It hoots at me whenever I walk outside on a summer night.


10 posted on 06/03/2026 10:49:09 PM PDT by jimtorr
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To: Red Badger

Certainly a coincidence...................


11 posted on 06/03/2026 10:55:31 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: jimtorr

“A hoot owl nests in an old plum tree right beside my house, every year. It hoots at me whenever I walk outside on a summer night.”

Put your clothes on and quit scaring the raccoons outa the yard! 😜


12 posted on 06/03/2026 10:56:39 PM PDT by Equine1952 (MM1SS SASOBe)
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To: ConservativeMind

Round them up, put them in an appropriate container in a zoo. They’ll live longer and be out of the way. Poppy-seed-sized snails certainly wouldn’t take up too much room.


13 posted on 06/03/2026 11:18:41 PM PDT by skr (1 Peter 1:15 - But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation)
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To: Red Badger

Badger, you post over 12-15 articles per day. Always without comment, synopsis, or summary.

You do comment, but never on your post. For the love of God/Bhudda/Mohammet/St. Peter/Mother Mary/Zeus/Jesus/Tlaloc/Ganesh or whomever you might pray to, could you please put a comment in for context for readers?


14 posted on 06/03/2026 11:25:31 PM PDT by KitJ (Shall not be infringed...)
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To: Equine1952

I’m sorry but:

“A hoot owl nests in an old plum tree right beside my house, every year. It hoots at me whenever I walk outside on a summer night.”

Put your clothes on and quit scaring the raccoons outa the yard! 😜

Then the YouTube video

A hoot owl, eyes as big as saucers in the light of a full moon. Raccoons runnng from a sweet corn patch to a hole in the backyard fence. As a bare-beam and buck nekkid human walks into the backyard swinging a bathrobe over their head to ward off mosquitoes singing Doo Daah, Doo Daah.

Ya just can’t make this up. Ya gotta live it. 🥴
As for the snails. Broil them in butter. Taste like chicken.


15 posted on 06/03/2026 11:27:57 PM PDT by Equine1952 (MM1SS SASOBe)
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To: Equine1952

Yes. Recall how the endangered spotted owl was used to kill the lumber industry in Oregon. 400,000 jobs lost. The study was found to be a total fake.


16 posted on 06/04/2026 1:55:58 AM PDT by DeplorablePaul
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To: DeplorablePaul

That and the pipe line, the oil and gas industry, hell we are rich and saddled with left wing azzholes. It’ll be that way until we say fight F&$k or go for your gun. Until then we suck hind teat. IMO


17 posted on 06/04/2026 2:06:13 AM PDT by Equine1952 (MM1SS SASOBe)
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To: Red Badger

2nd border wall?
Has the original wall fully erected?


18 posted on 06/04/2026 3:05:52 AM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: Red Badger

So this desert snail lives in a 3’ wide path on the border between Mexico and America... If it’s on the American side it’s an illegal snail and should be deported and that should be the administrations asinine rebuttal in court against an asinine suit.


19 posted on 06/04/2026 3:06:34 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: ConservativeMind

Look at that escar-go.


20 posted on 06/04/2026 4:28:05 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you. )
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