Forward by Jim Williams Wayzata Begin forwarded message:
From: Jeanette Bider <[email protected]> Date: June 24, 2005 8:58:27 AM CDT To: [email protected] Subject: [Fwd: Judge refuses to enjoin Mute Swan control]] (fwd) Reply-To: "ORNITH-L: the scientific discussion of Ornithology" <[email protected]> On 15 June 2005, Judge Emmet Sullivan (United States District Court for the District of Columbia) refused to issue an injunction against the decision of the US Fish and Wildlife Service that Mute Swans are not a protected species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This clears the way for the State of Maryland to proceed with its plan to reduce the Mute Swan population in the Chesapeake Bay. Although this is just a decision about issuing an injunction, and not a final ruling on the merits of the case, the Judge's strongly worded decision makes it clear that the Fund for Animals (the group suing the USFWS) is unlikely to win later down the road. In fact, the decision reads, "the Court is persuaded that defendants' overwhelming likelihood of success on the merits ...." Much as the strongly-worded decision last year persuaded the USFWS that it would ultimately lose the case (this was prior to the enactment of the Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act), and that it might as well throw in the towel and go back to write an Environmental Impact Statement, it is possible that this strongly-worded decision will persuade the Fund for Animals (as well as Joyce Hill, the plaintiff in the other pending Mute Swan case) that they've reached the end of the road. Language in the opinion also upholds the validity of the Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act and that it applies to Mute Swans. Moreover, while this did not factor into the decision, the court even recognized that "Maryland has been prohibited from using lethal means to carry out its mute swan population control program for at least the last four years, and that further delay may now or at some point in the future rise to the level of substantial harm to Maryland's environmental interests or to defendant-intervenors [Safari Club International and Ducks Unlimited]." Ellen -- Ellen Paul Executive Director The Ornithological Council Mailto:[email protected] Ornithological Council Website: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET "Providing Scientific Information about Birds" -- Ellen Paul Executive Director The Ornithological Council Mailto:[email protected] Ornithological Council Website: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET "Providing Scientific Information about Birds" -- Ellen Paul Executive Director The Ornithological Council Mailto:[email protected] Ornithological Council Website: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET "Providing Scientific Information about Birds"
