On Friday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota issued a critical ruling in favor of wolves’ legal protection, determining that gray wolves are not excluded from the Endangered Species Act even if they have some detectable dog genes.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center filed a lawsuit in 2017 against Fur-Ever Wild, a Minnesota-based business, alleging that the facility displays wolf pups in a petting zoo and later skins them for their fur.
As per ALDF, Fur-Ever Wild and its owner Teresa Petter then sold the furs for profit.
The lawsuit argues that Fur-Ever Wild’s killing of federally-protected gray wolves violates the Endangered Species Act, as did the facility’s failure to properly care for the animals while they were alive.
Judge Joan N. Ericksen ruled against Fur-Ever Wild on a motion for summary judgment, finding that the Endangered Species Act does apply to at least some wolves with dog genes.
As per a statement released by ALDF, the court found that the wolves at issue in this case are predominately wolf with small amounts of detectable dog genes, and did not preclude the possibility that Endangered Species Act protection could extend to wolves with more recent dog ancestors in other cases.
The court also found that Animal Legal Defense Fund and Lockwood Animal Rescue Center have standing to sue. The lawsuit will now go forward to a trial to determine if Fur-Ever Wild violated the Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit requests that the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota ban Fur-Ever Wild from killing gray wolves, and to order the facility to surrender its wolves to a bona fide sanctuary.
In 2018, Fur-Ever Wild agreed to the entry of a temporary restraining order not to kill animals with any gray wolf lineage while the suit proceeds, except for purposes of verified humane euthanasia. This important agreement came on the heels of another state court order prohibiting Fur-Ever Wild from owning more than one wolf at a time.
Fur-Ever Wild, which boasts on its website that it is NOT ANTI–HUNTING, should be banned from ever owning animals or operating a so-called sanctuary.
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