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At last, the Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel, among the first animals to get into the list of 78 endangered species as part of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1967 has now returned----and jumped off the endangered list after more than 40 years.

The squirrels have been getting relocated by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) along with earnest partner agencies and citizen-conservationists. And now, finally, they have brought the fox squirrel's population to 135,000 from the 32,000 that was existing in 1990, according to The Christian Science Monitor.

"We could not have reached this point without the many citizen-conservationists who changed the way they managed their forest lands to make this victory possible, and I am deeply appreciative of their efforts," said Sen. Ben Cardin on Friday in a press release.

The squirrel is safe, so states where it can be found, ie Virginia, Delaware and Maryland can again take responsibility over it.

The states are permitted to allow for the hunting of the squirrel during the seasons, after its name is removed from the ESA list before the end of 2015. However, no state wants to do that, and wishes to maintain the "endangered" treatment for the species, according to The Washington Post.