On September 26 a U.S. District Court issued an injunction to halt a pheasant hunting season in Cape Cod National Seashore until an environmental impact statement can be completed. The decision was a victory for the Humane Society of the United States and the Fund for Animals which sued the National Park Service to stop the hunt.
The animal rights groups filed suit in October 2002 and asked for an injunction at that time. Their request was turned down at that time.
Since the 1960s, Massachusetts state officials have been releasing non-native ring-tailed pheasants through the state for a fall hunting season. Over the past few years, about 40,000 pheasants have been brought into the state and released for a six-week hunting season.
Animal rights groups argued that the National Park Service had never prepared an environmental impact statement of the practice as is required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Park Service and hunting groups countered that since the stocking of pheasants was already established before the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act, that it was exempt from the environmental impact statement requirement.
Judge Patti B. Saris disagreed. In her decision to enjoin the hunt she wrote,
Defendant-intervenors (but not NPS) argue that NEPA is not applicable to the Seashore’s hunting program because it was in place before NEPA became law. However, an ongoing federal program that was initiated prior to NEPA is not exempt from NEPA obligations. See Jones v. Lynn, 477 F.2d 885, 889 (1st Cir. 1973) (holding “‘the only correct interpretation [of NEPA] would seem to be that if the requirements of the Act can feasibly be applied – even if the project in question was begun prior to the enactment of NEPA – then they should in fact [**26] be applied.'”)
The ruling does not effect hunting of native game bird and other species in the Cape Cod National Seashore. The full text of Judge Saris’ ruling can be read here.
Sources:
Federal Court Declares Cape Cod National Seashore Sport Hunting Programs Illegal–Stocking and Hunting of Non-native Pheasants is Blocked. Press Release, The Fund for Animals, September 26, 2003.
Court Orders Park Service to Restrict Hunting at Cape Cod. Gun Industry Litigation Reporter, October 2003.
Judge Puts Cape Pheasant Hunt On Hold She Orders Us To Evaluate Harm To Environment. Andrea Estes, Boston Globe, October 1, 2003.