A local species of mouse once thought to have been completely wiped out by human encroachment and habitat degradation has been reintroduced to a site on Camp Pendleton.
The release is part of a joint effort by the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, as part of an ongoing effort to bring the Pacific pocket mouse back from the brink of extinction.
“It is really exciting to see the initiation of a new population of Pacific pocket mice on MCB Camp Pendleton,” said Debra Shier, Ph.D., Brown Endowed Associate Director of Recovery Ecology at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, in a statement.
“This is the second reintroduced population, which brings us a step toward recovery of the species. The success of this program depends on partnerships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Marine Corps, and exemplifies our commitment to restoring local endangered species and the ecosystems on which these species depend.”
The Pacific pocket mouse is native to coastal scrublands, dunes and riverbanks within a 2.5-mile radius of the ocean, and the species once inhabited an extensive range from Los Angeles to the Tijuana River Valley before the 1930s, when its population began to sharply decline due to habitat loss and human activity.
After it was thought to be extinct for two decades, a small group was rediscovered in 1993 at Dana Point headlands in Orange County. By then, the species had dwindled to a few isolated populations separated by urban barriers and long distances. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service emergency listed the mouse as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1994.
Camp Pendleton actively manages 26 federally listed threatened and endangered species alongside its training activities, using environmentally conscious training practices to preserve and protect large areas of land and numerous species, including the Pacific pocket mouse. It is part of a larger effort to maintain environmental security amid a changing climate.
