USSAF Gets Nod to Enter Wolf Delisting Lawsuit
June 04, 2007
USSAF will represent hunters in suit brought by anti's to manipulate ESA
A federal judge will allow the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation to represent hunters in a lawsuit brought by anti’s that will prevent the removal of recovered wildlife populations from the federal endangered list.
On May 30, Judge Paul L. Friedman for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accepted a U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation motion to join the suit. Anti-hunters sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in April, claiming it violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it removed from the federal endangered list the distinct populations of abundant gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes region. Sportsmen are concerned that the obstruction of delistings will prevent states from resuming rightful control of healthy wildlife populations.
“Anti-hunters want to exploit some imprecise language that exists in the Endangered Species Act and use the law as a tool to eliminate hunting,” said Rick Story, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation senior vice president. “Anti-hunters don’t care whether the ESA allowed the once-troubled wolf populations to recover; they strictly want to use the ESA to ban hunting.”
Sportsmen, including those whose hunting dogs have been killed by wolves in the field, support the delisting of specific wolf populations. They want states to resume management control of the animals and establish regulations that will allow them to protect their property, including hunting dogs, from wolf attacks.
The FWS removed the Western Great Lakes wolves from the endangered list on Feb. 8 after determining that federal recovery efforts have been successful and the animals are no longer threatened.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation will collaborate with the National Rifle Association, Safari Club International, Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, and Wisconsin sportsmen Scott Meyer and Robert Stafsholt in the lawsuit.
Plaintiffs in the case against the FWS include the Humane Society of the United States and the Animal Protection Institute, groups that oppose all hunting.
This is the latest lawsuit brought by the anti’s to manipulate the ESA to eliminate hunting. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation is representing sportsmen’s interests in potentially precedent-setting lawsuits in Minnesota and Maine that would ban trapping to prevent incidental catch of lynx. A suit brought in Florida would make black bears in the state off-limits to sportsmen by classifying them as a sub-species and listing them as endangered.
The USSA is also challenging a FWS proposal to list polar bears as threatened and halt hunting programs, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups.
Wolf lawsuit
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For more information about how you can protect your rights as a sportsman, contact The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, 801 Kingsmill Parkway, Columbus, OH 43229. Phone (614) 888-4868. E-Mail us at info@ussportsmen.org