Brooks Animal Law Digest - Issue No. 57 (November 2, 2020)

A D.C. Circuit panel partially revived the North American Butterfly Association’s challenge to planned border wall construction on its property in Texas, allowing its Fifth Amendment claim to go forward.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, Humane Society of the United States, and a safari operator have filed suit, challenging the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s actions allowing leopard trophies to be imported into the United States. Plaintiffs argue that the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act by allowing the import of the trophies without adequate findings of the impact their hunting has on the species’ survival.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will delist the Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species Act, publishing the final rule in the Federal Register on November 3, 2020. It will be effective as of January 4, 2021.

A D.C. Circuit panel partially revived the North American Butterfly Association’s challenge to planned border wall construction on its property in Texas, allowing its Fifth Amendment claim to go forward.

A Montana federal judge has denied the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s efforts to block construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline, writing that Plaintiffs failed to properly distinguish between the impacts of one section of the pipeline and those of the entire pipeline.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has filed suit against the Vice President of Brand Development for Texas A&M University, Shane Hinckley, alleging that Hinckley rejected an advertisement of PETA’s for display on the local transit system and arguing that this rejection violated PETA’s First Amendment rights.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society International, Humane Society of the United States, and a safari operator have filed suit, challenging the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s actions allowing leopard trophies to be imported into the United States. Plaintiffs argue that the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act by allowing the import of the trophies without adequate findings of the impact their hunting has on the species’ survival.

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed suit against the head of the California Department of Parks and Recreation and the California Secretary for Natural Resources, challenging the state’s approval of motor vehicle activity in the Oceano Dunes, habitat of the threatened snowy plover.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced it will delist the Gray Wolf from the Endangered Species Act, publishing the final rule in the Federal Register on November 3, 2020. It will be effective as of January 4, 2021.