Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken were scrapped on Tuesday after a ruling by a federal judge in Texas.

A 2022 listing by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that extended special protections for the bird defined its range across two distinct regions, including a southern segment extending from New Mexico to west Texas and a northern segment spanning across parts of Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a suit in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas challenging the protected status.

U.S. District Judge David Counts on Tuesday agreed to a request by the Trump administration to vacate the Fish and Wildlife Service’s action.

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