[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 108 (Tuesday, June 5, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 33100-33103]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13421]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

50 CFR Part 17

[Docket No. FWS-R9-ES-2011-0095; MO 92210-0-0010 B6]
RIN 1018-AY31


Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Technical 
Correction for African Wild Ass

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the revised 
taxonomy of Equus asinus (African wild ass) under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We are revising the List of 
Endangered and Threatened Wildlife to reflect the current 
scientifically accepted taxonomy and nomenclature of this species. We 
revise the scientific name of this species as follows: Equus africanus 
(formerly E. asinus).

DATES: This rule will become effective on August 6, 2012, without 
further action, unless significant adverse comments are received by 
July 5, 2012. If adverse comment is received, we will publish a timely 
withdrawal of the rule in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Public Comments Processing, 
Attn: FWS-R9-ES-2011-0095; Division of Policy and Directives 
Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 
2042-PDM; Arlington, VA 22203.
    We will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This 
generally means that we will post any personal information you provide 
us (see the Public Comments section below for more information).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janine Van Norman, Branch Chief, 
Foreign Species Branch, Endangered Species Program, U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 420, Arlington, VA 22203; 
telephone 703-358-2171; facsimile 703-358-1735. If you use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Summary

(1) Purpose of the Regulatory Action

    We are revising the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife to 
reflect the current scientifically accepted taxonomy and nomenclature 
of the African wild ass. We revise the scientific name of this species 
as follows: Equus africanus (formerly E. asinus).

(2) Major Provision of the Regulatory Action

    This action is authorized by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 
(Act), as amended. We are revising the entry for ``Ass, African wild'' 
under MAMMALS by, in the Scientific name column, removing the words 
``Equus asinus'' and adding in their place the words ``Equus 
africanus''.

(3) Costs and Benefits

    This is a revised taxonomy action, and the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) has designated it as not significant. Therefore, we have 
not analyzed the costs or benefits of this rulemaking action.

Purpose of Direct Final Rule

    The purpose of this direct final rule is to notify the public that 
we are revising the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife to 
reflect the scientifically accepted taxonomy and nomenclature of the 
African wild ass listed under section 4 of the Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
seq.). This change to the List of Endangered and Threatened

[[Page 33101]]

Wildlife (at 50 CFR 17.11(h)) reflects the most recently accepted 
scientific name in accordance with 50 CFR 17.11(b) and the 
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
    We are publishing this direct final rule without a prior proposal 
because this is a noncontroversial action that does not alter the 
regulatory protections afforded to this species. Rather, it will 
differentiate the taxonomy of the African wild ass and the domesticated 
burro and/or donkey. Therefore, in the best interest of the public, we 
are taking this action in as timely a manner as possible, unless we 
receive significant adverse comments on or before the comment due date 
specified in the DATES section of this document. Significant adverse 
comments are comments that provide strong justification as to why this 
rule should not be adopted or why it should be changed. If we receive 
significant adverse comments, we will publish a document in the Federal 
Register withdrawing this rule before the effective date, and we will 
engage in the normal rulemaking process to promulgate these changes to 
50 CFR 17.11.

Public Comments

    You may submit your comments and materials regarding this direct 
final rule by one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section. 
Please include sufficient information with your comments that allows us 
to verify any scientific or commercial information you include. We will 
not consider comments sent by email or fax, or to an address not listed 
in the ADDRESSES section.
    We will post all comments on http://www.regulations.gov. This 
generally means that we will post any personal information that you 
provide to us. Before including your address, phone number, email 
address, or other personal information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.
    Comments and materials we receive, as well as supporting 
documentation we used in preparing this direct final rule, will be 
available for public inspection on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov or by appointment, during normal business hours at 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arlington, Virginia (see FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Please note that comments posted to 
http://www.regulations.gov are not immediately viewable. When you 
submit a comment, the system receives it immediately. However, the 
comment will not be publicly viewable until we post it, which might not 
occur until several days after submission.

Previous Federal Actions

    The Endangered Species Preservation Act was passed in 1966 (the 
1966 Act) and was limited in scope to ``native'' or resident species of 
fish or wildlife threatened with extinction (Pub. L. 89-669, 80 Stat. 
926). Section 1(c) of the 1966 Act stated that native species of fish 
or wildlife could be regarded as endangered if the Secretary of the 
Interior found, after consultation with the affected States, that their 
existence was threatened because of certain enumerated factors. The 
Secretary was directed to publish in the Federal Register a list of 
those native species determined by the Secretary to be endangered. Such 
a list was published on March 8, 1969, at 34 FR 5034, without reference 
to foreign species, such as the African wild ass.
    The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 (ESCA, Pub. L. 91-
135, 83 Stat. 275) expanded the 1966 Act by authorizing the listing of 
foreign species of fish and wildlife that were threatened with 
worldwide extinction. In a proposed rule published in the Federal 
Register on April 14, 1970 (35 FR 6069), the Secretary of the Interior 
set forth the original list of endangered foreign species entitled, 
``Appendix A: Secretary of the Interior's List of Species and 
Subspecies Threatened with Extinction in Other Countries,'' which 
contained the following entries:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Common name             Scientific name         Where found
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somali wild ass.............  Equus asinus          Ethiopia, Somalia.
                               somalicus.
Nubian wild ass.............  Equus asinus          Ethiopia.
                               africanus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    When the final rule setting forth the list of endangered foreign 
species was published on June 2, 1970, at 35 FR 8491, Appendix A was 
retitled to read, ``Appendix A: United States' List of Endangered 
Foreign Fish and Wildlife.'' The above entries were condensed into one:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Common name             Scientific name         Where found
------------------------------------------------------------------------
African wild ass............  Equus asinus........  Ethiopia, Somalia,
                                                     Sudan.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Except in very limited circumstances, the Act (1973) retained the 
lists published under the ESCA. At that time, the domesticated burro 
and donkey shared the same scientific name as the African wild ass 
(Equus asinus). The Act also abandoned the distinction between native 
and foreign lists, and a combined list was eventually published on 
September 26, 1975, at 40 FR 44412.
    The present listing at 50 CFR 17.11(h), in the List of Endangered 
and Threatened Wildlife, for the African wild ass reads as follows:

[[Page 33102]]



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                                                                                 Vertebrate
                                                                              population where                                    Critical     Species
           Common name              Scientific name       Historic range       endangered or          Status       When listed    habitat       rules
                                                                                 threatened
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Ass, African wild...............  Equus asinus.......  Somalia, Sudan,      Entire.............  E\1\                \2\ 3, 22       \3\ NA       \3\ NA
                                                        Ethiopia.
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\1\ E means endangered.
\2\ 3 is the code for 35 FR 8495; June 2, 1970. 22 is the code for 42 FR 15973; March 24, 1977.
\3\ NA means not applicable.

    In a ``Notice of Clarification of Status of Wild Burros'' (March 
24, 1977; 42 FR 15973), the Service stipulated that ``the western wild 
burro has never been considered for designation as an endangered 
species. Equus asinus has always been treated administratively as a 
foreign species and was never included on a native list of endangered 
species. Furthermore, the procedural requirements for consultation with 
affected States during the listing of a native species were never 
complied with. An undesignated native population of a listed foreign 
species cannot be bootstrapped into coverage under the 1973 Act because 
of a clerical ambiguity with the list'' (42 FR 15974). It is clear that 
the Service intended to list the African wild ass in its entirety, but 
not to list feral populations of once-domesticated burros and donkeys. 
However, the March 24, 1977, document failed to clarify the status of 
domesticated burros and donkeys.

Taxonomic Classification

Equus africanus

    Gentry et al. (1996), in their recommendations to the International 
Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, addressed the concern that many 
domesticated species share the same scientific name with their wild 
ancestors: ``The use of taxonomic names for wild species first 
described [for] domesticated forms is a retrograde step that will 
confuse not only biologists, paleontologists, archaeologists and those 
in applied fields of ecology, conservation, behavior studies and 
physiological resources, but also [enforcement] officials who have the 
job of sorting out endangered species'' (Gentry et al. 1996, p. 32). 
They highlighted 15 species of mammals in which the domestic name 
precedes or are contemporary with their wild counterparts, one of which 
was Equus asinus. The group recommended that the Commission adopt the 
specific name for wild populations for several taxa, including E. 
africanus (formerly E. asinus). The scientific name change of Equus 
africanus, Heuglin & Fitzinger (1866) from Equus asinus Linnaeus (1758) 
was adopted in March 2003 by the International Commission on Zoological 
Nomenclature (Commission, Opinion 2027 (Case 3010)). Based on the same 
opinion, the use of the E. africanus was also adopted by the IUCN Red 
List of Threatened Animals in 2008.

CITES

    The Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered 
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted the mammal reference 
Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World, A Taxonomic and 
Geographic Reference, 3rd Edition (2005), which recognizes the African 
wild ass as Equus asinus (CITES Resolution Conf. 12.11 (Rev. CoP15), 
Standard nomenclature). However, because of the wild and domestic 
taxonomy issue previously raised by the Commission and the problems it 
created for enforcement officials, the Parties agreed to deviate from 
Wilson and Reeder by adopting the name Equus africanus for the wild 
form of the African wild ass (listed in CITES Appendix I) and retaining 
the name Equus asinus for the domesticated form, which is not listed 
under CITES (CoP 15 Document 12, 2010).
    The Service's objective is to provide the protections of the Act to 
endangered and threatened species, in this case the endangered African 
wild ass (Equus africanus) wherever found, and not the common 
domesticated or feral burro and donkey (Equus asinus). Pursuant to 50 
CFR 17.11(b), ``the Services shall use the most recently accepted 
scientific name. * * * The Services shall rely to the extent 
practicable on the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.'' 
Because the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, as well as 
the IUCN and CITES, has accepted Equus africanus as the appropriate 
taxonomy for the African wild ass, and because this taxonomic change 
best reflects the scope of the Service's listing for this species, the 
Service is hereby adopting the scientific name E. africanus for the 
African wild ass. The Service will use the scientific name E. asinus 
for the domesticated donkey or burro.

Required Determinations

Clarity of the Rule

    We are required by Executive Orders 12866 and 12988 and by the 
Presidential Memorandum of June 1, 1998, to write all rules in plain 
language. This means that each rule we publish must:
    (1) Be logically organized;
    (2) Use the active voice to address readers directly;
    (3) Use clear language rather than jargon;
    (4) Be divided into short sections and sentences; and
    (5) Use lists and tables wherever possible.
    If you feel that we have not met these requirements, send us 
comments by one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section. To 
better help us revise the rule; your comments should be as specific as 
possible. For example, you should tell us the numbers of the sections 
or paragraphs that are unclearly written, which sections or sentences 
are too long, the sections where you feel lists or tables would be 
useful, etc.

National Environmental Policy Act

    We have determined that an environmental assessment or an 
environmental impact statement, as defined under the authority of the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 
need not be prepared in connection with regulations adopted under 
section 4(a) of the Act. A notice outlining our reasons for this 
determination was published in the Federal Register on October 25, 1983 
(48 FR 49244).

References Cited

    A complete list of the references used to develop this rule is 
available upon request from the Foreign Species Branch (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section).

List of Subjects in 50 CFR Part 17

    Endangered and threatened species, Exports, Imports, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.

[[Page 33103]]

Regulation Promulgation

    Accordingly, we hereby amend part 17, subchapter B of chapter I, 
title 50 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as set forth below:

PART 17--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 17 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1361-1407; 16 U.S.C. 1531-1544; 16 U.S.C. 
4201-4245; Public Law 99-625, 100 Stat. 3500; unless otherwise 
noted.


Sec.  17.11  [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  17.11(h), the List of Endangered and Threatened 
Wildlife, by amending the entry for ``Ass, African wild'' under MAMMALS 
by, in the Scientific name column, removing the words ``Equus asinus'' 
and adding in their place the words ``Equus africanus''.

    Dated: May 17, 2012.
Gregory E. Siekaniec,
Director, Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2012-13421 Filed 6-4-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P