Archive: Terrestrial Wildlife

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) filed suit against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW) today to stop the agency from continuing to violate the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by allowing trappers to use traps that injure and sometimes kill Canada lynx. In May 2008, AWI and WAM sent a 60-day letter of intent to sue the DIFW in an effort to prompt the agency to take immediate actions to protect Canada lynx- a species listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act- from traps. The state failed to respond to the letter.

In their complaint, AWI and WAM show that at least 8 lynx were caught in traps set for other species in a one month time period between October 15, 2007 and November 13, 2007. “The state has failed to protect Canada lynx from indiscriminate traps and is therefore in violation of the Endangered Species Act every time a lynx gets caught,” said Camilla Fox, Wildlife Consultant for AWI. “With eight lynx trapped in just 29 days, this means that on average at least one lynx is trapped every four days during the trapping season,” said Fox. “And that’s just the number that is reported.”

A similar lawsuit filed by another wildlife advocacy organization last year led to a consent decree settlement with the state that required DIFW to restrict certain traps in specific regions inhabited by lynx. “Unfortunately those restrictions were woefully inadequate,” said Daryl DeJoy, Founding Executive Director of WAM. “More lynx have been trapped after the settlement was implemented than in previous years so we are forced to take legal action to compel DIFW to take immediate action to better protect lynx from non-selective traps.”

AWI and WAM will hold a press conference today to announce the filing, demonstrate the types of traps that have captured Canada lynx in Maine, and show photos obtained through the Freedom of Information Act of lynx captured in traps:

When: 10:00 a.m., August 11, 2008
Where: Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building, 202 Harlow Street/ Bangor, Maine

Maine’s resident lynx population is estimated at only 200-500 individuals. However, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has stated that the population may be in decline and snow shoe hare populations- the main source of prey for lynx have declined by 50% in the last two years in Maine. “It is biologically reckless for the DIFW to continue to allow the use of traps that are known to capture, injure, and sometimes kill lynx when the species may be in decline,” said Fox. “It is also illegal.”

Charging that a massive wind energy project threatens endangered bats, the Animal Welfare Institute, a national animal protection organization, along with the West Virginia-based Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy and other conservationists, have filed what is believed to be the first federal lawsuit challenging an industrial wind energy project on environmental grounds. The lawsuit, brought under the Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) and filed in US District Court in Maryland, contends that a massive wind power facility slated for Greenbrier County, West Virginia, will unlawfully kill and injure Indiana bats—a highly endangered species known to live in caves in close proximity to the project site.

As planned, the Beech Ridge wind project will include 124 wind turbines nearly four hundred feet tall along a twenty-three mile stretch of forested Appalachian mountain ridgelines. In addition to turbine construction, Beech Ridge Energy and its parent companies also plan to install habitat-destroying roads, buildings, and transmission lines that are necessary to operate the facility.

The project is especially concerning because of its impacts when considered in conjunction with White Nose Syndrome (“WNS”)—a disease that is ravaging bat species in the eastern United States at an alarming rate. Last week the House Natural Resources Committee convened an oversight hearing seeking a solution before time runs out for the Indiana bat and many other at-risk bat species.

Poorly sited wind power projects in the eastern US have already killed and maimed scores of bats, and leading bat experts predict that, without reforms, hundreds of thousands more will be killed in coming years, imperiling populations already being decimated by WNS and other forms of habitat destruction. According to conservative estimates, the Beech Ridge project alone is expected to kill more than 130,000 bats over a twenty-year period.

Although properly sited wind power projects may help in mitigating global climate change, numerous projects are being built without adequately addressing wildlife and other environmental impacts. According to D.J. Schubert, wildlife biologist at the Animal Welfare Institute, “Wind power may be part of the solution to climate change, but locations such as the Beech Ridge project site are entirely inappropriate for industrial wind facilities. We cannot allow a new ecological crisis to be created in the name of solving an existing one.”

“We were hoping to avoid a federal lawsuit,” said John Stroud, spokesperson for Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy. “However, Beech Ridge Energy is currently moving forward with construction despite repeated requests to first bring the project into compliance with the Endangered Species Act to ensure that the Indiana bat is afforded the full protections of the law.”

Yesterday, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced legislation to end the use of brutal traps on furbearing animals within federal wildlife refuges.  H.R. 3710, the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act, which was submitted with a total of 35 original co-sponsors, helps to restore the original intent of the National Wildlife Refuge System by placing a ban on the use of cruel body-gripping traps within the refuge system.

“The use of cruel body-gripping traps on animals living on public lands is shameful,” said Lowey. “It is inexcusable that steel jaw leg-hold traps and similarly barbaric mechanisms are still permitted for use in National Wildlife Refuges. It is time end this brutal practice once and for all.”

Currently, animals living within National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) are at risk of falling victim to body-gripping traps where they may be tortured for hours or days—struggling to be free of the long-drawn-out pain inflicted on them by the traps.  More than half of our country’s refuges currently allow trapping using steel jaw leg-hold traps, Conibear traps and snares.  Steel jaw leg-hold traps are designed to restrain the animal by the leg, and some animals who are caught may chew off their own limb to escape on three legs.  Conibear traps are designed to crush the animal’s spinal column for a quick kill. However, the trap often misses and clamps down on the chest or pelvis, crushing bones and causing the animal excruciating pain and prolonged death. Snares are among the oldest form of trap, a simple noose made of thin wire, which tightens around an animal’s neck or body as they struggle to get away.

Federal legislation is needed to stop this barbaric practice, currently allowed on more than half of our nation’s 550 refuges. These inhumane traps have been banned or severely restricted in 89 other nations and in 8 states throughout the United States. According to a 1989 study conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal Damage Control division, such traps are indiscriminate and on average take 10.8 non-target animals for each trapped target animal. Referred to as “trash” animals by the trapper, non-target wildlife often are simply thrown away. Non-target animals that may be caught include raptors, songbirds, and deer.

“The Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act is a critical step toward reducing the suffering inflicted on our nation’s wildlife and is a legislative priority for the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI),” said Cathy Liss, AWI President.  Liss further added, “The Animal Welfare Institute applauds Congresswoman Lowey for her leadership in this effort.”  H.R. 3710 was referred to the US House Committee on Natural Resources where the language will be reviewed by committee staff.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) filed a motion in federal district court in Bangor Maine today seeking a preliminary injunction (PI) to stop Maine’s early coyote and fox trapping season. Set to commence on October 18, this request for a PI is an effort to protect federally protected Canada lynx from leghold traps. AWI and WAM are co-plaintiffs in a case against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW) that seeks to stop the agency from continuing to violate the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by allowing trappers to use traps that trap, injure and sometimes kill Canada lynx- a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 2000.

“An immediate injunction is necessary to protect lynx and their young from traps set for coyote and fox during this early trapping season when lynx are more vulnerable,” said Camilla Fox, Wildlife Consultant for AWI who served as an expert witness in this case and two other similar cases. “Historically, more lynx have been incidentally trapped in October and November during the early coyote and fox season than any other months and the court has yet to rule on our federal case so we are forced to file this motion to protect lynx from deadly traps.”

On August 11, 2008, AWI and WAM filed suit against DIFW to compel the agency to comply with federal law and take immediate action to protect Canada lynx. Through documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the organizations showed that at least 44 lynx have been trapped in leghold and Conibear kill traps set for other species since 1999.Two lynx died in Conibear kills traps last winter. Of the 30 lynx trapped in leghold traps from 1999 through 2006, 20 lynx were caught in foothold traps in October during the early fox and coyote trapping season. During this time, lynx—who are curious animals by nature—are often attracted to the bait used for coyotes, foxes, and other species and there are more juvenile lynx roaming the Maine woods who may be more vulnerable. Young lynx are sometimes killed or orphaned when their parents are killed in traps.

“We feel this motion will accomplish two very important goals. It will give the judge the time he needs to make a decision based on the letter of the law, and more importantly, it will protect our dwindling lynx population from further harm from someone’s idea of recreation,” said Daryl DeJoy, Founding Executive Director of WAM.

Through the PI motion, plaintiffs are seeking to enjoin the early fox and coyote trapping season to provide sufficient time for the Court to issue its decision on the ESA case.

Maine’s resident lynx population is estimated at only 200-500 individuals. However, survey data shows that fewer lynx are reproducing and the population is likely in decline while snow shoe hare populations—the main source of prey for lynx—have declined by 50% in the last two years in Maine. “When lynx are facing such increasingly challenging odds, it is biologically reckless for the State to continue to allow the use of traps that are known to capture, injure, and sometimes kill lynx,” said Fox. “It is also illegal.”

Today a groundbreaking trial began in Federal District Court in Greenbelt, MD (6500 Cherrywood Lane, Greenbelt, MD  20770) pitting a massive wind energy development in West Virginia against the critically endangered Indiana bat. Plaintiffs Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, and Mr. Dave Cowan filed a lawsuit against Beech Ridge Energy, in June 2009 over its construction of an extensive, 124-turbine wind farm on mountain ridgelines in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Plaintiffs allege that the wind energy development will kill endangered Indiana bats in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and are seeking a court order enjoining the projects unless Beech Ridge seeks an incidental take permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

“This is not a lawsuit condemning wind energy per se but it is a challenge to a specific project that will adversely impact an endangered bat in violation of federal law,” says D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist with the Animal Welfare Institute. “The plaintiffs in this case all support wind energy as an alternative to coal or other more destructive and polluting forms of energy but believe that all energy projects must be responsibly developed with all impacts considered and not, as is the case here, haphazardly concocted without concern for protected species or the Endangered Species Act,” adds Schubert.

The trial, expected to last at least three days, is set to begin at 9:00 AM in the courtroom of Federal District Court Judge Roger W. Titus. Plaintiffs will be represented by attorneys from the law firm of Meyer, Glitzenstein, & Crystal based in Washington, DC. During the trial, several of the country’s and world’s leading bat experts, including Drs. Tom Kunz, Michael Gannon, and Lynn Robbins will provide testimony supporting plaintiffs’ allegations that this facility—which Defendants themselves admit will kill at least 130,000 bats—will likely kill the endangered Indiana bat, that Indiana bat use the project ridgelines, and that defendants’ consultants did not conduct adequate bat surveys despite repeated requests from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

“This lawsuit is of great historical significance since it is the first federal challenge to a wind energy development under the Endangered Species Act,” reports John Stroud of MCRE. “The ESA has protected myriad species and their habitats from harm over the decades and, in this case, its protections must extend to the critically endangered Indiana bat which will be killed if this project is allowed to continue without substantial modification.”

The ITP process is a tool utilized by the USFWS to evaluate projects that may adversely impact protected species to determine if they can be permitted to continue and/or to identify modifications necessary to mitigate impacts to the species.

More than 40 scientists, veterinarians, and attorneys and a coalition of wildlife advocacy organizations including Project Coyote, Indiana Coyote Rescue (ICR), and the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) have submitted a formal letter and data urging the Indiana Natural Resources Commission to support two formal petitions to prohibit the taking, killing and harassment of coyotes and red foxes for “penning” purposes and for use as live bait in the wild.

Current loopholes in Indiana’s wildlife regulations allow the capture and killing of coyotes and red foxes by dogs in the wild. Moreover, no rule or law exists prohibiting the trapping and selling of coyotes and foxes in state or across state lines to “penning” facilities where these wild canines are then used to “train” hunting dogs in “running pens.” Operators of the running pens often charge a fee for individuals to “train” their hunting dogs on the captive coyotes and foxes. Penned wild canids are often killed by being torn apart by the dog pack.

Signatories to the letter, including internationally prominent scientists Dr. Michael Soulé, Dr. Marc Bekoff, and Dr. Michael W. Fox state, “As scientists, veterinarians, and attorneys, we believe this practice—commonly referred to as ‘penning’—violates the concept of ‘fair chase’ hunting and runs counter to fundamental concepts of wildlife management. We concur with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources that there are serious ecological, ethical, disease and health related issues associated with penning. We strongly support a ban on this practice…”

“As a society, we have decided that dog and cock fighting are ethically indefensible and we have banned these practices nationwide,” said Camilla Fox, Project Coyote founding director and wildlife consultant for the Animal Welfare Institute. “Ethics aside, this practice is ecologically reckless, and for that reason alone this practice should be immediately prohibited.”

On November 17th, the Indiana Natural Resources Commission will consider the formal petitions and decide whether to move forward with the petitions through the formal rulemaking process, reject them, or to send them back to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (INDNR) for further changes. For further details on the meeting, please see: www.in.gov./nrc/2354.htm.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has acknowledged that there are serious issues with penning, including disease transmission concerns, but does not supported a ban on the practice. However, the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies passed a resolution in 2008 urging the adoption of state-by-state regulations prohibiting the importation or interstate movement of foxes and coyotes for the purpose of stocking coursing pens or for release and pursuit by hounds outside of coursing pens.

“This bloodsport—known as Live Bait Dog Training—has no place in civilized society,” said CeAnn Lambert, founding director of Indiana Coyote Rescue who has led the effort to ban this practice in her home state. “It’s time to close this loophole in our regulations and ban this practice once and for all.”

Federal district court Judge Roger Titus of the US District Court for the District of Maryland has issued a comprehensive ruling that an industrial wind energy facility in Greenbrier County, West Virginia will kill and injure endangered Indiana bats, in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court concluded that “the development of wind energy can and should be encouraged, but wind turbines must be good neighbors.” This is the first federal court ruling in the country finding a wind power project in violation of federal environmental law, and it highlights the critical importance of balancing the creation of renewable energy and protection of endangered wildlife species under the ESA.

The court recognized that “the two vital federal policies at issue in this case are not necessarily in conflict” because defendants Invenergy and Beech Ridge Energy could have sought a permit under the ESA which would “allow their project to proceed in harmony with the goal of avoidance of harm to endangered species.” The ESA provides for the issuance of permits that authorize projects in endangered species habitat, but only when the United States Fish and Wildlife Service attaches strict and enforceable conditions designed to minimize the impact on imperiled species.

In finding a violation of the ESA, the court held, based on extensive expert testimony and other evidence, “that, like death and taxes, there is a virtual certainty that Indiana bats will be harmed, wounded, or killed imminently by the Beech Ridge Project in violation of … the ESA, during the spring, summer, and fall.” Accordingly, the court held “that the only avenue available to Defendants to resolve the self-imposed plight in which they now find themselves is to do belatedly that which they should have done long ago: apply for a permit” under the ESA.

In holding that the project is “certain to imminently harm, kill, or wound Indiana bats,” the court relied heavily on testimony by leading bat biologists Dr. Thomas Kunz of Boston University, Dr. Michael Gannon of Penn State, and Dr. Lynn Robbins of Missouri State University. Dr. Kunz—whom the court has described as the “leading expert in the field of bat ecology in the United States”—testified that the project will not only kill endangered Indiana bats, but may kill more than a quarter of a million bats overall, including species already being decimated by threats such as the devastating disease known as white-nose syndrome.

Plaintiffs in the case—the Animal Welfare Institute, Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy, and caving enthusiast Dave Cowan—applauded the court’s ruling.

“As this nation embraces renewable energy which all of the plaintiffs support, it is critical that such projects be undertaken consistent with federal law to ensure that our rush to develop a green energy future doesn’t jeopardize imperiled species,” said D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist with the Animal Welfare Institute. “In this decision, the court sends an unequivocal message that the ‘green energy’ label does not exempt wind power from compliance with federal laws protecting wildlife and the environment,” added William Eubanks, an attorney with Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal which represented plaintiffs in this case. “Indeed, other wind power companies are complying with the ESA permitting process, the Congressionally mandated vehicle for minimizing harm to listed species.”

The court enjoined the construction of any additional wind turbines and prohibited the operation of all existing turbines between April 1 and November 15 until an Incidental Take Permit is obtained. Operating the existing turbines between November 16 and March 31 is not likely to impact Indiana bats since they hibernate during the winter months. Per an earlier agreement between the parties and the court, 40 of the 122 planned wind turbines have been erected to date, and those are generally farthest from known winter populations of Indiana bats.

“We do not oppose responsible development of renewable energy projects be they wind farms, solar farms, or tidal energy projects but there must be independent federal regulation of these project to avoid unintentional consequences to protected species,” said John Stroud, spokesperson for Mountain Communities for Responsible Energy. “This court has made clear to Beech Ridge and its parent company, Invenergy, that the ESA has teeth, that the Indiana bat will be harmed by this project, and that these companies don’t get a free pass to violate the ESA,” said Dave Cowan, an avid spelunker who has explored many of West Virginia’s caves.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine (WAM) urged the US Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today to enforce the Endangered Species Act (ESA) against the unlawful trapping of Canada lynx in traps set for other species. Lynx continue to be trapped and sometimes killed in traps set by recreational fur trappers, licensed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W), and the Service has failed thus far to stop this illegal activity.

“At least 47 lynx have been incidentally trapped in Maine over the last decade and each time this happens, the ESA is violated,” said Camilla Fox, wildlife consultant for AWI. “Since lynx were listed as a federally threatened species in 2000, they have been incidentally trapped in Maine. It is imperative that the Service take all necessary steps to prevent this unlawful harm from continuing.”

In response to litigation, IF&W agreed in 2007 to tighten its regulations with respect to Conibear kill traps which have captured and killed lynx in Maine, and to apply for an incidental take permit from the Service to mitigate illegal take and to shield the agency from further violating the ESA. In August 2008, IF&W submitted its current draft permit to the Service—a permit application on which the Service has not yet made a final determination. Because lynx continued to be trapped after IF&W tightened its trapping regulations, AWI and WAM filed a lawsuit against IF&W in August 2008 for ongoing violations of the ESA’s take prohibition. After a six-day hearing, federal district court Judge John A. Woodcock concluded that IF&W’s current trapping regulations have resulted and will continue to result in unlawful takes of threatened lynx.

“In light of Judge Woodcock’s determination that lynx will continue to be unlawfully taken under the current regulatory scheme, it is imperative that the Service invoke its enforcement authority against IF&W for ongoing takes of threatened lynx in violation of the Act,” said attorney William Eubanks of Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal in his letter to the Service on behalf of AWI and WAM. “Otherwise, many lynx will continue to be illegally trapped, harmed, harassed, injured and even killed as a result of IF&W’s actions. It is incumbent upon the Service to exercise its statutory enforcement authority to ensure that such conceded violations are halted, and to send a clear message that neither private nor governmental actors may violate the ESA with impunity.”

While Woodcock ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor regarding liability, concurring that Maine’s current regulatory scheme for trapping furbearing animals is resulting and will continue to result in ongoing violations of the ESA, he ruled against plaintiffs with regard to a permanent injunction to further restrict traps in lynx habitat pending the issuance of an ITP. In addition to the letter sent to the Service, the organizations have appealed Judge Woodcock’s recent decision on relief to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The most recent and best studies available in Maine show a 50 percent decrease in snowshoe hare populations and this and other factors, including trapping, are greatly affecting our dwindling lynx population ,” said Daryl DeJoy, founding executive director of WAM. “Lynx must be protected from indiscriminate traps.”

A national coalition of wildlife advocacy and conservation organizations representing more than 70,000 Maine citizens is calling for an end to a coyote killing tournament that is currently underway in northern Maine. Sponsored by the Jackman-Moose River Region Chamber of Commerce, the killing tournament began Dec. 16 and runs through Jan. 30, 2010. Prizes are awarded to those hunters who kill both the most coyotes and the largest individuals.

“Slaughtering coyotes as part of a ‘contest’ is ethically indefensible, ecologically reckless, counter to sound scientific wildlife management, and has no place in the 21st century,” said Camilla Fox, founding director of Project Coyote, wildlife consultant with the Animal Welfare Institute, and co-author of Coyotes in Our Midst. “Coyote killing tournaments tarnish Maine’s reputation as a state that prides itself on tourism and wildlife watching,” said Fox. “It is unbelievable that a regional Chamber of Commerce is supporting this kind of scientifically unsound and unconscionable blood sport.”

Project Coyote has issued a statewide alert urging concerned citizens to contact the Jackman-Moose River Region Chamber of Commerce (1-888-633-5225) and also Gov. John Baldacci (207-287-3531) to call off the coyote killing tournament in perpetuity. In 2005, Gov. Baldacci came out against a coyote contest hunt in Washington County and directed the state Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to tell organizers to cancel the event. In Maine, coyotes can legally be hunted year-round in unlimited numbers. Coalition groups have started a citizen’s petition effort to change Maine’s laws to protect coyotes from abuse and cruelty.

“Randomly killing coyotes to supposedly boost deer populations is a sham,” said Dr. Marc Bekoff, Project Coyote advisory board member, internationally recognized canid ethologist, and author and editor of more than 22 books including Coyotes: Biology, Behavior and Management. “Coyote killing tournaments are antithetical to conservation biology and ecosystem-based science, and they are a totally ineffective management strategy given the species’ resiliency and ability to biologically rebound,” said Bekoff.

“Killing tournaments, disguised as either recreation or wildlife management, are a very poor commentary on those who partake in them,” said Daryl DeJoy, executive director of the Wildlife Alliance of Maine. We would like to see Governor Baldacci to emulate the late, great Governor Percival Baxter who felt that Maine’s wildlife’s should not be wantonly destroyed for recreation or entertainment.”

“These events exhibit a blatant disregard for wildlife and the integrity of ecosystems by encouraging mass killing for prizes,” said Andrew Page, senior director of the Wildlife Abuse Campaign at The Humane Society of the United States. “Killing coyotes will do nothing to increase the white-tailed deer density or decrease coyote numbers – it will only advance an archaic idea that the value of animals is their dead weight.”

Organizations opposing the killing tournament include Project Coyote, the Animal Welfare Institute, the Wildlife Alliance of Maine, The Humane Society of the United States, The Maine Wolf Coalition, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, and the Wild Dog Foundation.

After nearly a decade of litigation, the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) will continue its battle to protect endangered Asian elephants from abuse at the hands of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Yesterday, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the US District Court for the District of Columbia decided the federal case against the circus lacked sufficient standing and declined to address the merits of the case in the face of an overwhelming amount of evidence presented at trial.

The groundbreaking lawsuit, brought against Ringling Bros.’ parent company Feld Entertainment, Inc. (FEI) by AWI and co-plaintiffs including three other national animal advocacy groups and former Ringling Bros. employee Tom Rider, revealed a mountain of evidence establishing the physical, emotional and behavioral harm inflicted upon elephants by the circus. It is the first case ever brought under the Endangered Species Act to protect a captive endangered species.

During the six-week trial which was held earlier this year, testimony of elephant abuse was not only elicited from plaintiffs’ witnesses, but from circus witnesses as well. Kenneth Feld, Chief Executive Officer of FEI admitted under oath that “all” of the elephant handlers “strike” the elephants with bull hooks, and Gary Jacobson, general manager of the circus’ breeding farm in Florida, testified that most of the female elephants are kept chained on two legs for at least 16 hours a day on concrete floors, and that some of them are kept on chains for 23.5 hours a day at FEI’s “Center for Elephant Conservation.”

“While we are disappointed that the judge did not address the merits of this case, the public now knows that Ringling Bros.’ Asian elephants are systematically abused on a daily basis,” said AWI General Counsel, Tracy Silverman. “We will continue to work through other channels in our efforts to ensure that these endangered animals are protected.”

For now, it will be up to the US Fish and Wildlife Service to enforce the law to protect captive Asian elephants in the United States. AWI plans to work cooperatively with the agency to ensure that the animals are protected.

“We remain confident that endangered Asian elephants held in captivity solely for entertainment will one day be given the full protection to which they are entitled under the law,” said AWI President, Cathy Liss. “These magnificent animals should not be forced to endure bull hook beatings and lives shackled in chains.”