U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation

801 Kingsmill Parkway, Columbus, OH  43229

Ph. 614/888-4868 • Fax 614/888-0326

Website: www.ussportsmen.org  • E-mail: info@ussportsmen.org

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             Contact:  Beth Ruth (614) 888-4868 ext. 214

Oct. 5, 2007

Sportsmen Settle Suit, Protect Trapping in Maine

 

(Columbus) - Sportsmen have reached a legal settlement in a lawsuit that threatened to ban trapping in Maine. The decision will allow trapping to continue in the state.

 

On Oct. 4, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW) agreed to restrict trap sizes in areas where Canada lynx exist. The action is part of a settlement between the state and the Animal Protection Institute (API), an anti-trapping organization that filed suit in 2006 to ban trapping. The group argued that all trapping should be prohibited to prevent the inadvertent catch of federally-protected Canada lynx.

 

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation joined the case as a defendant intervenor to represent sportsmen’s interests. It’s legal arm, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund, worked along with the Maine Trappers Association, Fur Takers of America, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, National Trappers Association and individual sportsmen Oscar Cronk, Donald Dudley, Alvin Theriault and Brian Cogill.

 

“We will get to continue trapping in Maine with minimal restrictions,” said Skip Trask, executive director of the Maine Trappers Association. “The attorneys for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation did an outstanding job. Without them, we would have been in serious trouble.”

 

The DIFW has filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to receive an Incidental Take Permit. The permits are distributed by the FWS for activities that could possibly result in "take" of threatened or endangered species. If the agency grants the permit, the settlement and its restrictions will expire.

 

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in the courts.  It defends wildlife management and sportsmen’s rights in local, state and federal courts.  The U.S. SLDF represents the interests of sportsmen and assists government lawyers who often have little or no background in wildlife law.

 

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is a national association of sportsmen and sportsmen’s organizations that protect the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs.  For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website, www.ussportsmen.org.

 

 

 

Animal activists are suing the state to derail trapping in Maine.   The suit is the latest in a spate of court cases that could lead to the end of trapping, hunting and fishing wherever endangered species exist.  On Oct. 12, the Animal Protection Institute (API) filed a federal lawsuit against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW).  The case, which is nearly identical to an existing suit in Minnesota, centers around Canada lynx, bald eagles and gray wolves. The API claims that because these federally protected species could be caught in a trap, trapping should be prohibited.  There is no data proving that there is a problem.  “The anti’s are not filing these lawsuits to protect the integrity of threatened and endangered species, but rather to advance their own political agenda,” said Rob Sexton, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation (USSAF) vice president for government affairs.  “They want to establish a legal precedent that can be used to stop all hunting and even fishing anywhere endangered animals exist.”  The USSAF and its U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund (U.S. SLDF) asked the court for permission to join the suit on sportsmen’s behalf. The U.S. SLDF is the nation’s only litigation force that exclusively represents sportsmen’s interests in court. The U.S. SLDF received permission in September to join in a third anti-trapping lawsuit, which was also brought in Minnesota.  The Humane Society of the United States and a smaller animal rights group are suing the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to stop trapping because Canada lynx could be caught in a trap.  The U.S. SLDF has asked Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson to combine the suit with the one brought by API in that state.   “Each of these cases could set precedents that would affect how the ESA can be applied throughout the nation,” said Sexton.  “If anti’s can stop trapping in a place where they assert there is a risk of catching lynx, they can just as easily try to stop fishing in bodies of water where they claim there is a risk of catching endangered sturgeon.”  Animal rights groups previously used the Endangered Species Act to force the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to suspend trapping with snares.  The state’s coyote snaring program is still in limbo as state wildlife officials attempt to obtain incidental take permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the state if any listed species are inadvertently injured or killed in a snare. Information on this website can be reprinted with a citation to the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and www.ussportsmen.org

       October 13, 2006

Department Served With Lawsuit

 

AUGUSTA, Maine - The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife confirmed today that it has been served with a lawsuit Thursday that seeks to effectively ban all trapping in Maine.

The Animal Protection Institute filed suit in Federal District Court on Thursday claiming that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife continues to violate the Endangered Species Act by allowing trapping, which alleges that lynx, bald eagles, and gray wolves are being taken unacceptably during the regulated trapping season.  The Maine Attorney Generals office will handle the suit.

The Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife works with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to ensure that all reasonable precautions are taken to minimize the potential take of lynx and ensure that regulated trapping is no threat to lynx populations; and clearly, banning trapping in the State of Maine is not our preferred option, said Roland D. Martin, Commissioner of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Maine has a larger lynx population than any other eastern state, and Maines bald eagle population is the largest in the northeast.  Maine does not have a gray wolf population.

Trapping is an important wildlife management activity that is highly regulated to ensure that wildlife populations continue to be healthy, said Ken Elowe, Director, Bureau of Resource Management for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Maine is known nationwide as a leader in collaborative research and conservation of lynx.  Currently, the department is in the midst of a 6-year lynx research project that has provided as much or more lynx habitat and status information as any other study in the lower 48 states, said Martin. This lynx project is a collaboration between the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, the University of Maine, Maine Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and several commercial forest landowners.

The Department continues to work with trappers to incorporate best management practices into trapping. The department also published a pamphlet for trappers entitled How To Avoid Incidental Take of Lynx which was written and distributed to reduce the possibility of trapping lynx while trapping other furbearers. A few lynx are killed each year by cars, predators such as bobcats and fisher, and occasionally caught incidentally during the regulated trapping season.

The Animal Protection Institute, based in California, describes itself as an œanimal advocacy organization working to end animal cruelty and exploitation through legislation, litigation, and public education.