http://www.humanesociety.org/n...es-trump-080118.html



August 1, 2018

Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration’s Trophy Hunting Council


Interior Secretary Zinke Illegally Stacked Panel With Insiders Who Profit From Hunting Imperiled Animals

Center for Biological Diversity, Democracy Forward, Natural Resources Defense Council

Media Contact: Kirsten Peek: 301-548-7793, kpeek@humanesociety.org

Conservation and animal protection groups sued the Trump administration today for illegally establishing the “International Wildlife Conservation Council,” an advisory panel stacked with people who have personal or financial interests in killing or importing rare or endangered animals from overseas. Federal law requires government advisory panels to be balanced and not improperly influenced by special interests.

Today’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court by Democracy Forward on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, asserts that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service flagrantly violated federal law by appointing a council packed with trophy hunters firearm executives and representatives of businesses with close ties to the Trump administration.

“Elephants, rhinos, and lions face enough threats without the U.S. government giving the cover of credibility to trophy hunters peddling the self-serving notion that killing endangered species constitutes a legitimate strategy for conserving them,” said Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney Zak Smith. “If we have to sue to get our government to listen to wildlife conservation experts, we’re happy to do so.” Smith is also director of NRDC’s Wildlife Trade Initiative.

The IWCC is designed to promote the “removal of barriers” to trophy imports. Zinke, however, has refused to include conservation experts on the council, instead selecting trophy hunters and representatives of financially conflicted business interests. Four of the 17 council members had signed on to host a "Camouflage and Cufflinks" inaugural ball last year, soliciting millions of dollars in campaign contributions.

“Zinke’s thrill-kill council is unethical and illegal, and apparently that’s just fine with him,” said Tanya Sanerib, international program legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These people kill imperiled animals for fun. They have no business making policy decisions about wildlife imports and we’re hopeful that the courts will agree.”

Trump called big game hunting a “horror show” in 2017, just weeks after his Fish and Wildlife Service abandoned an Obama-era ban on importing elephant trophies and sanctioned the hunting of lions in several countries. According to a Humane Society International report, trophy hunting has caused the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of animals since 2005.

“The public’s interest is not served by using taxpayer dollars to host meetings of wealthy trophy hunters to hatch plans to minimize governmental oversight of their unethical hobby,” said Anna Frostic, managing wildlife attorney for the Humane Society of the United States. “The Department of the Interior has failed to provide a rational justification for establishing the IWCC, and we are asking the federal court to revoke the council’s charter.”

“By establishing a council with the sole purpose of promoting the overseas hobby of trophy hunting, Secretary Zinke is breaking the law,” said Democracy Forward Executive Director Anne Harkavy. “Contrary to the committee’s own name, Secretary Zinke has failed to include any conservation biologists or others with expertise in advising on wildlife conservation policy.”

Same story. Different article.

http://news.trust.org/item/20180801203637-ocnpu


Trophy-hunting foes sue to shut down Trump wildlife board

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Animal advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to shut down U.S. President Donald Trump's board advising on federal rules for importing big game, saying it is stacked with trophy hunters and politically connected donors and cannot serve the public interest.

The lawsuit said the "deceptively named" International Wildlife Conservation Council actually promotes the hunting of and importing of body parts from "imperiled species" such as African elephants, lions and rhinos.

It said the 17-member council, created last November by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, violates a 1972 federal law designed to curb White House use of "secretive" advisory panels to set national policy, and should lose its powers and charter.

A spokeswoman for the Interior Department referred a request for comment to the U.S. Department of Justice, where a spokeswoman declined to comment.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Humane Society, all non-profit.

They said the council caused harm by inhibiting their ability to publicly debate and contribute to federal wildlife policy.

Zinke, a hunter and former Montana congressman, has said the council would advise on the benefits of international recreational hunting, and how American hunters "benefit international conservation from boosting economies and creating hundreds of jobs to enhancing wildlife conservation."

The council's mission included providing advice on removing import barriers for legally hunted wildlife, streamlining the permitting process and lifting unneeded import bans, as well as combating illegal trafficking and poaching.

According to federal records, council members include Paul Babaz, president of Safari Club International; Erica Rhoad, director of hunting policy at the National Rifle Association; and Steven Chancellor, a Republican fundraiser.

The White House has sent mixed signals on the importing of big game.

On March 1, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reversed an Obama-era ban to allow the importing of trophies such as elephant tusks and lion hides, extending prior administration approval for imports of elephant parts from Zambia and Zimbabwe.

But it also conflicted with a Nov. 19, 2017 tweet, after the Zambia and Zimbabwe approval, in which Trump said he would be "very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal."

Trump's adult sons are also trophy hunters.

The case is Natural Resources Defense Council et al v Zinke et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 18-06903. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang and David Gregorio)