Written by: Amie Alexander, JD/MPS Candidate, William H. Bowen School of Law
The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico granted Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendant Commissioners of the New Mexico State Game Commission adopted regulations, which authorize the trapping of cougars, that will cause a “take” of Mexican gray wolves in violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Background to this Action
Plaintiffs in this action, Humane Society of the United States v. Kienzle, are the Humane Society of the United States, Animal Protection of New Mexico, and two individual plaintiffs. Defendants in this action were the Individual Commissioners of the New Mexico State Game Commission, the New Mexico State Game Commission, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).
In 2016, Defendants authorized recreational trapping and snaring for cougars on state and private lands throughout the state. These regulations made New Mexico the only state to authorize the recreational trapping and snaring of cougars. Plaintiffs in this action alleged that the Cougar Rule threatens Mexican wolves which may be harmed by cougar traps.
This Court’s Actions
When a species is listed as endangered, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) prohibits “take” of the species, which is “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or attempt to engage in any such conduct.” See 16 U.S.C. § 1538(a)(1)(B). The take of a threatened species is not expressly prohibited, but Plaintiffs in this action stressed the ESA’s directive to the FWS to promulgate protective regulations for threatened species.
Plaintiffs in this action sought declaratory and injunctive relief to bar Defendants from implementing the Cougar Rule portions which authorized cougar trapping or snaring. While Mexican wolves are generally treated as endangered species, the Mexican Gray Wolf Experimental Population Area establishes special protections for wolves in that area. Within that protection area, federal law prohibits taking a Mexican gray wolf with a trap unless due care was exercised to avoid injury or death to a wolf.
The Cougar Rule has been in effect for two full trapping seasons without a single record of a Mexican gray wolf being caught in a trap set for cougars. In their motion for summary judgment, Defendants contended that Plaintiffs could neither establish standing nor succeed on the merits. The Court considered whether the Cougar Rule poses a reasonable likelihood or reasonable certainty of harm to Mexican wolves. The Court found that the evidence presented by the Defendants substantially and materially disputed Plaintiffs’ claims that measures cannot be taken to avoid trapping wolves in cougar traps, and that there were no factual disputes as to prevent summary judgment being granted in favor of Defendants.