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The HSUS Sues the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Authorizing the Canned Hunting of Endangered Species

October 26, 2005

On September 2, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a rule listing three African antelope species—the scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelle— as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act, officially ending 14 years of efforts to protect these species long considered on the verge of extinction.

But before you could say "species recovery," the USFWS issued at the same time a second rule stripping U.S. captive-bred members of those species of their ESA protections from trophy hunting, live transport and sale, and the trade in sport-hunted trophies. In other words, after years of consideration and months of public comments, the agency decided to protect only the wild members of these three species, leaving U.S. captive-bred members exposed to trophy hunters at canned hunting operations, and creating a domestic commercial market for these animals that could leave all members of the species vulnerable to men carrying guns.

Sensing an under-the-table gift to trophy hunters who covet these African antelopes—the Bush Administration,

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after all, unsuccessfully tried in 2003 to change the ESA permitting rules, which would have largely stripped the conservation requirements that trophy hunters must meet in order to kill captive-bred members of all endangered species—a coalition of animal protection and conservation groups, including The HSUS, filed a lawsuit today to squash the new rule.

"The USFWS's decision to authorize canned hunting of endangered species is almost too absurd to believe," said Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president of Animal Protection Litigation for The HSUS. "The Endangered Species Act was enacted to facilitate the recovery of endangered animals, not their taxidermy."

How We Got Here

Decades of overhunting and habitat loss have driven the three antelope species to the very verge of extinction. The scimitar-horned oryx (watch an undercover video of a trophy hunter killing a scimitar-horned oryx) is already believed to be extinct in the wild, and is being reintroduced into the wild with animals from conservation breeding programs in zoos. The addax is considered by biologists to be critically endangered, with most wild populations already gone or greatly diminished. The dama gazelle has a wild population of fewer than 700 animals.

But trophy hunters, particularly those who are members of Safari Club International, Exotic Wildlife Association, and Conservation Force, successfully blocked ESA listings for these species for more than ten years. The USFWS first proposed listing the species in 1991. Despite their rhetoric about trying to enhance the species through captive-breeding programs and conservation contributions from canned hunting operations, the trophy hunters really had only one motivation in squelching the listings: They wanted to continue to kill these animals for the trophy mounts.

In February, the USFWS finally moved to list the species, but proposed the unprecedented step of declaring all U.S. captive members of the species ineligible for protection under the ESA. In response, a broad coalition of conservation and animal protection organizations led by the Humane Society of the United States and Defenders of Wildlife notified the USFWS that they wholeheartedly supported listing the scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelle as endangered under the ESA, but vehemently opposed the proposed canned hunting exemption.

In their comments to the agency, the groups pointed out that "the Antelopes Proposal will only serve to further commercialize this endangered wildlife, and send a clear signal to the rest of the world that the United States sanctions and encourages the breeding of endangered species in captivity for commercial purposes, including, in this case, the highly controversial purpose of sport hunting of captive animals."

But there are other problems with the agency's new rule, too. Under current ESA rules, whenever a canned hunting operator wants to kill captive-bred members of an endangered species, he or she has to file for a special permit with the USFWS. The permit application then must go through the official process, in which the request is published in the Federal Register, the application materials are made available to the public, and public comments are sought. Then, in order for the USFWS to justify granting the so-called "cull" permit under the Endangered Species Act, the canned hunting operator must show that he or she is making some contribution to the "enhancement of the survival of the species"—usually by contributing a mere 10% of the proceeds from the hunt to an organization purportedly engaged in conservation activities. (This practice, incidentally, has been hotly contested by The HSUS as not "enhancing the survival of the species.")

Suffice it to say, most, if not all, canned hunting operators would prefer to sidestep this agonizingly public process and avoid finding organizations willing to accept their blood money, which is increasingly difficult.

The new USFWS rule for the three African antelope species does away with all those requirements for these animals. The new rule also means that canned hunting operators will not have to register with the Captive Bred Wildlife program and will not have to submit reports to the federal government. In other words, the public will have no oversight, and no information, on what is being done to members of a species listed as endangered by their own government.

Left with no other option to keep endangered species out of the cross-hairs of canned hunters, The HSUS and Defenders of Wildlife joined with Born Free USA, the Kimya Institute, and a number of individuals in filing a lawsuit in federal court in California to prevent the USFWS from, in the words of HSUS executive vice president Mike Markarian, "trying to create a 'canned hunt' exemption to the Endangered Species Act so that trophy hunters can bag endangered animals in drive-thru killing operations."

The suit alleges that the USFWS is violating both the ESA and the National Environmental Policy Act by allowing species listed as endangered—the highest level of wildlife protection available under federal law—to be shot, mounted, and hung on the wall of would-be trophy hunters. Although the USFWS justifies its decision by contending that allowing the sport hunting of endangered species at canned hunting facilities provides a financial incentive to breed those species, there is no evidence that any of these endangered antelopes raised by a game ranch have ever been introduced into the wild.

Instead, game ranches are motivated by the profit gained by selectively breeding animals with trophy potential. Kristin Leppert, HSUS campaign manager for hunting issues, points out that the exemption "has severe implications for wild populations. Killing captive endangered species increases the demand, market, and interest in poaching wild populations, putting the few animals left in the wild at severe risk." Wildlife trade experts agree that the exemptions will create a legal market through which illegally hunted trophies could be laundered.

Canned Hunts

Although opposed even by pro-hunting groups such as the Izaak Walton League and Boone and Crockett Club, canned hunting operations are sprouting up like noxious weeds across the country. Canned hunting operations, which are legal in most states, now number an estimated 1,000 or more, with most blemishing the landscape in Texas. These ranches offer trophy hunters the opportunity to kill native and exotic species confined by fences, with no possibility of escape. The animals served up at canned hunts range from African bushbuck to zebra, and everything in between.

Because these animals are often raised on site or are bought from private breeders, animal dealers, or auctions, they are accustomed to human contact and have lost their natural fear of humans, which makes it possible for canned hunt operators to offer "no kill-no pay" guarantees. Having little fear, the animals are easily approached on foot at smaller ranches; at larger ranches, guides drive trophy hunters out to feeding zones or watering holes to make the kill as easy as possible.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS sums it up: "Canned hunts make a mockery of the core ethical concepts behind hunting, notably the tradition of fair chase. Shooting animals in a fenced enclosure where the killing is guaranteed is not a sport, but a commercial slaughter."

Unfortunately, canned hunting is a lucrative and expanding industry. They owe their popularity to the overbreeding of captive exotic animals, the desire for a quick and easy kill on the part of rich trophy hunters, and the incentive to bag exotic mammals provided by Safari Club International's "Introduced Trophy Game Animals of North America" trophy hunting achievement award.

Scimitar-horned oryx (which can be killed for $2,750 at the JN Ranch in Rocksprings, Texas; for $3,000 at the Indianhead Ranch in Texas; and for $2,500 at the Comanche Spring Game Ranch in Eden, Texas), addaxes (offered for $4,500 at the Wilson Whitetail Ranch in Sabinal, Texas; and for $3,500 at the Indianhead Ranch), and dama gazelles ("priced on request" at the 777 Ranch near San Antonio) are already popular targets of canned hunters. By first listing the species as endangered, then exempting them from ESA protections, the USFWS is handing these endangered species to canned hunt operators on a silver platter.