Environmental advocates are taking a stand to save a rare species unique to Tennessee, igniting a legal battle over federal wildlife protections. In a recent lawsuit, the Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the Center for Biological Diversity, has accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of failing the Berry Cave salamander, a species that spends its life lurking in the shadows of East Tennessee’s caves, as reported by WATE.

With its distinctive pink feathery gills and an impressive length of over 9 inches, the Berry Cave salamander is a sight to behold, if you can find one because as the Center for Biological Diversity notes, they're "incredibly rare," the environments they inhabit are under siege from Tennessee's rapid expansion and their numbers are on a steep decline and Knox County, home to these elusive amphibians, happens to be one of the fastest-growing areas in the state, a fact that bodes ill for the salamander's survival prospects.

"The Berry Cave salamander is found nowhere else on earth, and its populations are dwindling in the face of rapid development and a changing climate," Liz Rasheed, a senior associate attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center said, as per WATE. This lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to overturn the 2019 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that inexplicably removed the Berry Cave salamander from the list of species under consideration for protection, amid accusations of imposed quotas on denied protections influencing the decision.

The numbers provide a stark reality: A decade ago, surveys showed a decline by at least 60% in Knoxville's Meads Quarry Cave, once a bastion for the Berry Cave salamander and now, these sensitive creatures face an existential threat as their pristine aquatic habitats are being compromised by pollutants associated with development, "The rapid decline of these special salamanders means we’re not doing enough to protect Tennessee’s water quality and special places," Chelsea Stewart-Fusek, an associate attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity explained, according to Local3News.

Environmental watchdogs are insisting that designating the Berry Cave salamander as an endangered species would not just signal heightened protection for the animal but also catalyze efforts to better the water quality in East Tennessee, crucial for the livelihood of numerous species and the well-being of local human communities alike. The outcome of this lawsuit could chart the course for several species residing on the fringes of survival, a reminder of the delicate balance between nature's needs and human expansion.