Anti’s Cry Wolf, USSAF Joins Suit to Downlist
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Anti’s Cry Wolf, USSAF Joins Suit to Downlist





(Columbus) - The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund, the litigation arm of the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, today moved to represent sportsmen in a lawsuit brought by anti-hunters that will make it virtually impossible to remove recovered wildlife populations from the federal endangered list. Obstructing delistings will also prevent states from resuming control of healthy wildlife populations.



On April 16, animal rights groups filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The anti’s claim that the service violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) when it removed from the federal endangered species list distinct populations of abundant gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes region.



The U.S. SLDF, along with the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and Wisconsin sportsmen Scott Meyer and Robert Stafsholt, asked to join the case as party defendants, specifically to represent hunters’ interests. They contend that the ESA has been effective, this population of wolves is not endangered or threatened, and authority to manage wolves should now be returned to the states.



“The federal government has determined that the wolf populations have recovered and it is time for states to resume control of their wildlife resource,” said U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation Senior Vice President Rick Story. “Unfortunately, the animal rights plaintiffs are not interested in species recovery. Their goal is to force a hands-off approach for all animals, and they are simply using the ESA as a tool.”



Sportsmen support the delisting of the specific wolf populations. They want the 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 delisting of the gray wolf gives the Wisconsin government the ability to protect its citizens and our property by allowing the state to deal with problem wolves,” said Bill Klugow, president of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association. “If this lawsuit succeeds in taking away Wisconsin’s right to manage its own natural resources, our state will lose the right to protect me, my family and my property from wolves.”



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.



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 is representing sportsmen’s interests in potentially precedent-setting lawsuits in Minnesota and Maine that will ban trapping to prevent incidental catch of lynx. A suit brought in Florida will 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.



The U.S. SLDF is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in the courts. It defends wildlife management and sportsmen’s rights in local, state and federal courts. The U.S. SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who have little or no background in wildlife law.



US Sportmens Alliance on Target

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