Online Messenger #280
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Idaho Governor Butch Otter, the director of the Idaho Fish and Game Department, and members of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission were warned in April 2014 that they were violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing accidental trapping of the rare Canada lynx. Now, Western Watersheds Project and our co-plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping the illegal death and harassment of this species.
Last Monday, Western Watersheds Project, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater, WildEarth Guardiansand the Western Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit against the state officials for permitting activities that lead to trapping and killing of lynx, a threatened species numbering as few as 100 animals in Idaho. Recreational and commercial trapping activities in the state have caught at least three lynx in the last two years, and one of those was killed. With the population of Canada lynx as low as it is, Idaho ought to be taking every precaution to protect the elusive cat.
Maybe Governor Otter and the Fish and Game Department just need a federal judge to tell them!
The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Boise, and can be read here.
