SEATTLE -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the Bush Administration’s and Makah Indian Tribe’s request to reconsider last year’s ruling that effectively put a stop to the hunting of gray whales off the coast of Washington. The government and tribe had asked the court to rehear the case “en banc”—by the full court rather than a panel of judges. In denying this request, the court rejected challenges to last year’s ruling that the federal government, in approving the whale hunt, had failed to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
The plaintiffs in the case—The Fund for Animals, The Humane Society of the United States, and other groups and individuals—argued that the government failed to adequately study the ways in which the Makah whale hunt could set a dangerous precedent and adversely affect the environment, especially because the expanded hunt posed an even greater risk to the area’s small population of 30 to 50 resident gray whales. The plaintiffs also argued that the government’s authorization of the whale hunt violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which generally prohibits whaling, while creating an explicit exemption for Alaskan tribes, but not for the Makah.
Said Michael Markarian, president of The Fund for Animals, “For the third time now, the court has said no to whale hunting. Americans decided long ago that our whales should be protected, not persecuted. The question now is whether the Bush Administration will continue to use federal taxpayer money to support an illegal and inhumane whale hunt.”
Added Wayne Pacelle, a senior vice president for The Humane Society of the United States, “This attempt to circumvent our environmental and marine mammal protection laws has failed. Let’s hope that this represents the final chapter in this wrongheaded effort to resume whale killing in the United States.”
The plaintiffs are represented by the public interest law firm Meyer & Glitzenstein.
