26
Dec
In the News: Kill bad policy, not endangered species
SANTA FE, N.M. — President Obama has one more thing to do before he clears his desk in the Oval Office. He needs to fix a mistake from Bill Clinton’s administration that allows endangered species to be killed by hunters without any prosecution from the Department of Justice. This policy is named after a rifleman who shot one of the most important alpha wolves reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995.
After biologists had returned wolves to the Yellowstone ecosystem, Chad McKittrick was out bear hunting in Montana when he saw a large animal 140 yards away. He said to his companion, “That’s a wolf. I’m going to shoot it,” and he focused the scope on his Ruger M77 7mm magnum rifle, and fired.
McKittrick approached the now-dead wolf and then saw that it wore a radio collar clearly marked Yellowstone National Park. He cut the animal’s head off, but left the paws. His friend, Dusty Steinmasel, used a special wrench to remove the collar, later throwing it into a creek where it continued to send a rapid series of beeps to wolf biologists, signaling that the wolf was dead. Investigators soon found the collar, and Steinmasel provided a written confession and enough evidence for a search warrant.
McKittrick, however, claimed he thought he was shooting at a feral dog. If so, why had he kept the head and hide? “Even in Montana, they rarely mount dogs as game trophies,” author Renee Askins, who chronicles this event in her book, “Shadow Mountain,” wryly commented.
In 1996, a jury of eight men and four women convicted McKittrick of three misdemeanor counts — killing an endangered species, possessing it, and transporting it. His sentence included three months in jail, three months in a halfway house and $10,000 in restitution. At his trial, he testified that he thought the animal he killed was a rabid dog and, using this “mistaken identity” argument, he appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. McKittrick lost there, but then later won after the Department of Justice backpedaled on its policy, as if in a rowboat approaching a waterfall.
The Justice Department named its new legal position the McKittrick Policy, giving lasting fame to the man who pulled a trigger on a Yellowstone wolf. The policy basically states that U.S. attorneys will prosecute someone accused of killing an Endangered Species Act-protected species only when they can prove that the killer specifically intended to kill an endangered species. The result: Wolves are sometimes shot by hunters who claim they were shooting coyotes — even though coyotes rarely wear radio collars.
WildEarth Guardians and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance have sued the U.S. Department of Justice in federal court, arguing that, “since the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program began in 1998, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has catalogued 48 wolves that have been the victims of illegal killings.” The ongoing policy “has the practical effect of removing the threat of criminal prosecution for would-be wolf killers who are opposed to the reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf.”
The impacts of the McKittrick Policy continue to reverberate across the country. “Suspects in the killing of some of the nation’s most imperiled animals are escaping prosecution under the federal Endangered Species Act because of a Justice Department policy that some federal wildlife officials call a significant loophole in the law,” said reporter Deborah Schoch in the Los Angeles Times. She explained, “When the (McKittrick) case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers re-examined the issue. They decided that the jury instructions prosecutors had argued for were wrong. “¦ They decided a person could not be convicted of ‘knowingly’ killing an endangered animal unless prosecutors could prove that the person actually knew what kind of animal he or she had shot.” That’s bad news for many endangered species — and especially for wolves.
Kris Olson, former U.S. attorney for Oregon, laments, “I am ashamed to say that it was my colleagues in the Clinton administration who created the mess that followed — the new McKittrick Policy of requiring the prosecution to prove that the defendant knew it was an animal on the ESA list. So the Court and Congress never addressed the issue; it was done internally by the executive branch and has wreaked havoc ever since. It is a travesty, a violation of legislative intent, and should be rescinded.”
So, President Obama, before you leave office, eliminate the McKittrick Policy and let endangered species thrive. Even if the next administration tries to overturn your decision, you will have done the right thing.
Andrew Gulliford is a contributer to Writers on the Range, the opinion service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a professor of history and environmental studies at Fort Lewis College, gulliford_a@fortlewis.edu.
This article was published in the Albuquerque Journal, in the East Oregonian, and in High Country News
~~~~~~~~
Contact President Obama NOW!
White House Email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
~~~~~~~~
Tweet About It!
Use the hashtag #EndMcKittrickPolicy and tell the President by including @BarackObama in your message. Or use one of our example tweets:
Dear @POTUS before you leave office #EndMcKittrickPolicy and stop the open season on endangered species!
Endangered species are only protected when those who kill them can be prosecuted .@POTUS it’s time to #EndMcKittrickPolicy!
~~~~~~~
Show your support for Mexican wolves with a Letter to the Editor today!
The letters to the editor page is one of the most widely read, influential parts of the newspaper. One letter from you can reach thousands of people and will also likely be read by decision-makers. Tips for writing your letter are below, but please write in your own words, from your own experience. Don’t try to include all the talking points in your letter.
Letter Writing Tips & Talking Points
“¢ The McKittrick Policy allows people to knowingly poach endangered species, including Mexican gray wolves, and claim they didn’t realize what animal they were killing.
“¢ The McKittrick Policy is a giant hole in the Endangered Species Act that can be easily repaired with the stroke of a pen. The Supreme Court has ruled against the concept, yet the Department of Justice has maintained it. They can easily abandon the policy and do their part to uphold the Endangered Species Act.
“¢ Common sense tells us hunters should be obliged to identify any animal they main or kill.
Make sure you:
“¢ Thank the paper for publishing the article
“¢ Submit your letter as soon as possible. The chance of your letter being published declines after a day or two since the article was published
“¢ Do not repeat any negative messages from the article, such as “so and so said that wolves kill too many cows, but”¦” Remember that those reading your letter will not be looking at the article it responds to, so this is an opportunity to get out positive messages about wolf recovery rather than to argue with the original article
“¢ Keep your letter brief, under 350 – 400 words
“¢ Include something about who you are and why you care: E.g. “I am a mother, outdoors person, teacher, business owner, scientific, religious, etc.”
“¢ Provide your name, address, phone number and address. The paper won’t publish these, but they want to know you are who you say you are.
Submit your letter to the editor to the Albuquerque Journal, the East Oregonian, and High Country News
