The groups said that saving streamside habitat for mice is hurting their business and argued that the mouse is not sufficiently distinct from the more-abundant Western jumping mouse to qualify for federal Endangered Species Act protection. "Why waste money protecting a population that is not important to the species as a whole or to biodiversity?" Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Damien Schiff said, making the groups' case to lift protections for the Preble's mouse. A U.S.