ELR Citation: 49 ELR 20062
No(s). 17-cv-2530-RCL (D.D.C. Apr 8, 2019) (Lamberth, J.)

A district court dismissed a lawsuit brought by conservation groups challenging FWS' 2017 enhancement finding that overturned a previous ban on the importation of elephant trophies from Zimbabwe. Conservation groups challenged the finding, which concluded that hunting elephants in Zimbabwe enhanced the survival of the species, claiming it was issued arbitrarily and capriciously because FWS failed to solicit public comment, failed to provide a reasoned explanation for altering the status of the species set forth in previous findings, and failed to adequately consider relevant criteria in the ESA. But the court found it lacked jurisdiction because the 2017 finding had since been withdrawn, and to declare that the withdrawn finding violated the ESA for the purpose of instructing FWS how to approach future findings amounted to an advisory opinion. The groups also challenged FWS' announcement that it would no longer make countrywide enhancement findings and would, instead, make those findings on a case-by-case basis as part of the permitting process. But the court found no requirement under the ESA that enhancement findings must be made through regulation or that FWS was statutorily prohibited from conducting case-by-case adjudications of permit applications. It therefore dismissed the suit.