Secret and Illegal Issuance of Permits to Circuses and Other Exploiters to Harm, Harass, and Wound Animals Is Now History
For
Immediate Release:
July
24, 2012
Contact:
Sophia
Charchuk 202-483-7382
Washington -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has published a new regulation in the Federal Register that bars the agency from issuing permits to circuses, zoos, and others to harm, harass, and wound captive-born endangered animals without first giving public notice of the permit application and allowing for a public-comment period. The new measure—which will go into effect immediately—ends the FWS' more than three-decade-long practice of secretly issuing captive-bred wildlife permits in direct violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The regulation comes after PETA prevailed in its lawsuit against the FWS.
"When the very agencies charged with protecting animals start issuing secret permits to circuses and other animal exploiters, the animals suffer as a result of those illegal acts," says PETA Foundation Director of Captive Animal Law Enforcement Delcianna Winders. "This new regulation finally shines the light of public scrutiny on the process for granting permits to harm, harass, or wound captive-born endangered animals."
The ESA states that the public must be notified of all permit applications, that those applications must be made publicly available, and that the FWS must take public comments on the applications before making a decision about whether to approve them. Prior to PETA's lawsuit, many roadside zoos and traveling animal acts with abysmal records of animal mistreatment held captive-bred wildlife permits that were secretly issued without public notice.
The regulation requires a notice of all captive-bred wildlife permit applications to be published in the Federal Register. It also stipulates that all information for each permit application will be made public and that a 30-day public-comment period will be required for each application. For each permit granted, the agency will publish specific findings, including that the permit was applied for in good faith, that issuing the permit will not operate to the disadvantage of the species, and that issuing the registration will be consistent with the ESA.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.