02/02/2021
BREAKING NEWS! A HUGE WIN FOR THE REDS!
FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT ISSUES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION PROHIBITING USFWS FROM BARRING THE RELEASE OF CAPTIVE RED WOLVES INTO THE RED WOLF RECOVERY AREA!
From the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the RED WOLF COALITION, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute:
ORDER granting [12] Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Defendants (USFWS) are PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED (prohibited) from implementing their policy barring the release of captive red wolves into the Red Wolf Recovery Area. Defendants shall draft a plan to release captive red wolves into the Red Wolf Recovery Area in consultation with their scientists and experts in the field to be submitted to the Court not later than March 1, 2021. Plaintiffs are permitted fourteen days to respond. In the absence of any objection by the plaintiffs, defendants shall act under the terms of its release plan without requiring further order from the Court. The Court will hold a status hearing in six months.
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE SOUTHERN EVNVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTER:
"The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina just ruled in a case brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must develop a plan by March 1, 2021, to resume its longstanding and successful practice of releasing captive red wolves into the Red Wolf Recovery Area in North Carolina. The court order temporarily prohibits the agency from implementing its recent policy change barring release of captive wolves into the wild. As few as seven red wolves remain in the wild today.
On November 16, 2020, the Southern Environmental Law Center sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina for violations of the Endangered Species Act caused by new, illegal agency policies that bar the use of proven management measures to save wild red wolves on behalf of Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife, and Animal Welfare Institute. It filed for a motion for preliminary injunction in the case on November 19, 2020.
“Contrary to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent actions, this order confirms once again that the Endangered Species Act requires recovery of the red wolf in the wild,” said Sierra Weaver, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center which represents the conservation organizations in court. “The agency has to stop managing for extinction and instead take meaningful action to rebuild the wild red wolf population in North Carolina.”
“We are grateful that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will finally abide by its responsibility to protect this critically endangered wolf,” said Ben Prater, Southeast program director at Defenders of Wildlife. “Releasing wolves into the wild is a common sense, science-backed approach to boost this population and stave off the red wolf’s extinction. While the species has a long way to go, this is a major step in the right direction.”
“This is a vital ruling that will breathe new life into the Red Wolf Recovery Program,” said Johanna Hamburger, director and senior staff attorney for AWI’s terrestrial wildlife program. “The Court held that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s passive efforts to manage the wild red wolf population are woefully inadequate to recover the species. By ordering the agency to once again release wolves from captivity into the wild population, the Court is requiring much-needed action to prevent the continued downward spiral of this species.”
“The Red Wolf Coalition is grateful that the court saw the importance of releasing captive red wolves to the wild population,” said Kim Wheeler, Executive Director of Red Wolf Coalition. “These additional red wolves will add genetic diversity and breeding opportunities to the wild population in northeastern North Carolina.”
LINK TO THE ORDER FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
NORTHERN DIVISION
https://www.southernenvironment.org/uploads/words_docs/PI_Order.1.22.21.PDF
Image by Mitch Rand ~ Red Wolf Review
