Conservation groups sue over predator killing program in Montana

[douglas9]

(CN) — Three conservation groups sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services’ predator killing program in Montana on Wednesday, which kills or removes native predators in the state, including threatened grizzly bears. The lawsuit also challenges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services for approving the program’s predator control efforts, which lawyers for the conservation groups say remain “largely unregulated in the state.”

According to the lawsuit, led by WildEarth Guardians, Wildlife Services’ predator removal program is “intended to address damage livestock and agricultural interests from wildlife and feral animals.” To do so, the program targets a variety of predators, including gray wolves, red foxes, mountain lions, black bears and grizzly bears — the latter of which is, in most cases, protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Fish and Wildlife listed all grizzly bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, prohibiting the “take” of grizzly bears except for special circumstances. For instance, one could take a grizzly in the act of self-defense or remove a “nuisance bear,” aka one with a “demonstratable but non-immediate threat to human safety” or “significant depredations.” Otherwise, a take may occur for scientific purposes, but only if it does not result in death or permanent injury of the bear involved.

As such, the Wildlife Services’ predator removal program appears to mitigate the clause of grizzly bear take involving the Endangered Species Act, yet WildEarth Guardians claim the federal agency’s program and Fish and Wildlife’s approval thereof still violates the act because its very existence is not based on the best available science available.

https://www.courthousenews.com/conservation-groups-sue-over-predator-killing-program-in-montana/