ELR Citation: ELR 20134
No(s). s. 04-01660, -02120 (D.D.C. Jun 23, 2009)

A district court held that FWS violated the ESA's notice and review provision, §10(c), when it issued a rule exempting three endangered antelope species bred in captivity in the United States from certain protections afforded under the Act. Private ranches in the United States breed antelope species in captivity. Some of these ranches allow sport hunters to kill antelopes for a fee. So, when the FWS listed the antelope as endangered, it also issued a rule excepting U.S. captive-bred members of the antelope species from the take and other prohibitions of ESA §9. ESA §10(c), however, requires case-by-case consideration before the FWS may permit otherwise prohibited acts to enhance the propagation or survival of endangered species. The rule therefore violates this provision of the Act.