A US federal judge on Monday ordered Endangered Species Act protections restored to grizzlies in and around Yellowstone National Park, halting plans for the first licensed trophy hunts of the bears in the region in more than 40 years.
US District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana, sided with environmentalists and native American groups by overruling the US Fish and Wildlife Service decision to strip the grizzlies of their status as a threatened species. The outcome caps one of the most high-profile legal battles over the Endangered Species Act in many years, rivaling previous disputes surrounding the gray wolf and northern spotted owl.
The ruling came as the US President Donald Trump administration is seeking to rewrite Endangered Species Act regulations that scientists say would erode wildlife protection for the benefit of commercial interests. The Trump administration’s decision in June last year to de-list the grizzly, formally proposed in 2016 during the era of former US president Barack Obama, was based on agency findings that the bears’ numbers had rebounded enough in recent decades that federal safeguards were no longer necessary.
Photo: Reuters
照片：路透
The de-listing, welcomed by big-game hunters and cattlemen, had applied to about 700 Yellowstone-area grizzlies in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Environmentalists countered that treating those bears separately from other grizzly populations in Montana and elsewhere in the Lower 48 states was biologically unsound and illegal under the Endangered Species Act, and the judge agreed.
Grizzlies, which are slow to reproduce, number fewer than 2,000 bears across the Lower 48. That is far below a historic high of 100,000 before widespread shooting, poisoning and trapping reduced the bears’ population to just several hundred by 1975, when they were placed under federal protection. Environmentalists have said that while grizzlies have made a comeback, their recovery could falter without continued federal safeguards. They point to, among other things, alterations in the bears’ food supply from climate change and human threats posed by poachers and road traffic.
Christensen found that the Fish and Wildlife Service had failed to apply the best available science, as required under the law, in evaluating continued threats to grizzly populations, including limitations in its genetic diversity.
The judge’s ruling makes permanent a court order barring Wyoming and Idaho from going ahead with plans to open grizzly hunting seasons allowing as many as 23 bears in the two states to be shot and killed for sport outside of Yellowstone Park. The season had been set to begin on Sept. 1. US law prohibits hunting altogether inside the park, and Montana had decided against a grizzly hunt, citing its concerns about long-term recovery of a bear population that is arguably one of the most celebrated and photographed in the world.
Native American tribes, which revere the grizzly as sacred, sought reinstatement of its threatened status as essential to protecting their religious practices.
Ranchers, who make up a powerful political constituency in Western states, have strongly advocated de-listing grizzlies, arguing that the bears’ growing numbers pose a threat to humans and livestock. Agitation for state management of the bears also came from hunters, who highly prize them as trophy animals.
The agency said it stood by its de-listing action, adding that it was reviewing the ruling and “considering next steps.” Wyoming Governor Matt Mead, a staunch critic of the Endangered Species Act, said he was “disappointed” by Monday’s decision, citing US$50 million he said his state had spent on grizzly management over the past 15 years.
(Reuters)
美國聯邦法官於週一發布命令，將黃石公園境內與鄰近地區的灰熊族群重新列入《瀕危物種法案》保護範圍，阻擋了四十多年來首度特許對該區域熊群進行戰利品狩獵的計畫。
美國蒙大拿州米蘇拉地區法官達納‧克莉史汀森支持環保人士與美國原住民的主張，駁回美國魚類及野生動物管理局的決議，該決議移除了灰熊被列為受威脅物種的地位。這是多年來與瀕危物種法案相關的法律訴訟戰中最受矚目的一份判決結果，受關注程度堪比先前關於灰狼與北方斑點鴞的爭議。
該判決出爐的此刻，川普政府正在試圖重新擬定瀕危物種法案規章，科學家認為此舉將為商業利益犧牲野生動物保育。川普政府於去年六月將灰熊移出受保護物種名單的決議，其實是來自一份二○一六年歐巴馬執政當時正式提出的議案。根據魚類及野生動物管理局的調查結果，川普政府的決議認為熊群數量在近來的數十年間已經充分回升，不再需要聯邦政府的保護措施。
廣受大型獵捕活動狩獵者與牧牛人歡迎的這項除名決議，適用於懷俄明州、愛達荷州以及蒙大拿州內大約七百隻棲息在黃石公園區域的灰熊。環保人士表示反對，認為把當地熊群與蒙大拿州和美國本土其他灰熊族群分別對待的這份決議，在生物學上是不健全的，同時也抵觸瀕危物種法案，法官同意反方觀點。
繁衍速度緩慢的灰熊在美國本土境內數量少於兩千隻，遠低於歷史上的最高記錄十萬隻，後來因為大規模的射殺、毒害，以及陷阱捕捉等原因，導致灰熊數量在一九七五年驟減至數百頭，遂於當時被納入聯邦保護。環保人士表示，儘管灰熊數量已見回升，但若再失去聯邦政府持續的保護措施，恢復速度將會波動不穩。在其他原因之外，環保人士特別指出氣候變遷導致熊群食物來源變動，還有盜獵者和道路交通造成的人類威脅。
克莉史汀森認為，魚類及野生動物管理局未能根據法律要求，運用現有最適宜的科學技術，來評估灰熊族群所面臨的持續性威脅，其中包括該物種基因多樣性受到侷限。
法官的這份判決將一份禁止懷俄明州與愛達荷州擅自開放灰熊狩獵季計畫的法院命令視為永久有效。該計畫允許這兩州在狩獵季中可因娛樂用途在黃石公園範圍以外射殺多達二十三隻灰熊。狩獵季原先預計於九月一號開始。美國法律禁止在國家公園內進行任何狩獵活動，而蒙大拿州方面則引述對於該區域熊群長期性恢復的擔憂，畢竟牠們很可能是世界上最受歡迎又最常成為拍攝對象的熊群，遂已決議反對獵捕灰熊。
長久以來視灰熊為神聖動物美國原住民部落，希望重新確立灰熊作為受威脅物種的地位。他們視灰熊地位恢復為保護宗教儀式不可或缺的一部分。
大型牧場經營者在西部各州的選舉區具有舉足輕重的政治影響力，他們強烈支持灰熊從瀕危名單上除名，主張熊群逐漸成長的數量對人類與牲畜構成威脅。獵人也鼓動州政府管控熊群，因為他們高度評價灰熊作為「戰利品動物」。
管理局則表示該機構仍然支持此除名行動，並補充表示他們正在重新審視這項判決並「考慮採取下一步行動」。懷俄明州州長麥特‧邁德──是一名瀕危物種法案的堅定批評者──則表示他對週一的判決「感到失望」，並指出該州在過去十五年來已經在灰熊管制措施上花費了五千萬美元。
（台北時報章厚明譯）
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