Environmentalists, government debate gray wolf in court
Reuters reports: Environmentalists went to federal court yesterday seeking to restore endangered species safeguards for some 1,200 gray wolves in Montana and Idaho removed from protection by an unprecedented act of Congress.
Conservation groups say Congress exceeded its authority by intervening in an ongoing court case to remove the wolves from the endangered species list without bothering to amend the underlying law and by presuming to exclude its action from judicial review.
Jay Tutchton, a lawyer for several groups challenging the delisting, said lawmakers sought to take a "politically expedient shortcut" that violates the constitutional separation of powers between the courts and Congress.
But government lawyers said the delisting, tucked into a budget bill signed into law by President Barack Obama in April, effectively amended the Endangered Species Act by making a special exemption for wolf populations in the Rockies.
The gray wolf become the first animal ever taken off the endangered list by an act of Congress rather than through a process of scientific review.
Wolves were once hunted, trapped and poisoned to the edge of extinction, but their recovery in the Northern Rockies has brought them into conflict with ranchers, farmers and sportsmen who see the animal as a growing threat to livestock and big-game animals, such as elk.
Environmentalists say the impact of wolves on cattle herds and wildlife is overstated, and they fear removal of federal safeguards could push the wolf back to the brink of extinction.
More on this controversy here.
Conservation groups say Congress exceeded its authority by intervening in an ongoing court case to remove the wolves from the endangered species list without bothering to amend the underlying law and by presuming to exclude its action from judicial review.Jay Tutchton, a lawyer for several groups challenging the delisting, said lawmakers sought to take a "politically expedient shortcut" that violates the constitutional separation of powers between the courts and Congress.
But government lawyers said the delisting, tucked into a budget bill signed into law by President Barack Obama in April, effectively amended the Endangered Species Act by making a special exemption for wolf populations in the Rockies.
The gray wolf become the first animal ever taken off the endangered list by an act of Congress rather than through a process of scientific review.
Wolves were once hunted, trapped and poisoned to the edge of extinction, but their recovery in the Northern Rockies has brought them into conflict with ranchers, farmers and sportsmen who see the animal as a growing threat to livestock and big-game animals, such as elk.
Environmentalists say the impact of wolves on cattle herds and wildlife is overstated, and they fear removal of federal safeguards could push the wolf back to the brink of extinction.
More on this controversy here.
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