WASHINGTON (CN) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday supported a hunters’ petition to remove protections from a zebra, but denied a cattlemen’s petition to delist a jumping mouse.
Fish and Wildlife received a petition on May 10, 2017, from two hunters’ groups, Conservation Force and the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa, which asked it to delist the Cape mountain zebra, or downlist it from an endangered to a threatened species.
Fish and Wildlife said the petition presented “substantial or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted,” due to the reduction of threats. It boosted the petition to the next level in the delisting/downlisting process: a comprehensive 12-month status review.
The petition to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke seeks to remove or reduce Endangered Species Act protections for these zebras.
Downlisting to threatened status would open an avenue for hunting the zebras due to special exemptions on “take” (harm or mortality) of listed species. The take exemptions exist for threatened species but not for endangered ones.
This Cape Mountain zebra subspecies is found in Eastern and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa. It is the smallest zebra and survives mostly in reserves and parks, such as the Mountain Zebra National Park and Karoo National Park.
Fewer than 80 Cape zebras existed in the 1950s. They were listed under the Endangered Species Act as an endangered species in 1976. The hunters’ groups claim in their petition that the population was up to 4,800 in 2016.
These zebras increased by 572 percent from 1985 to 2015 in subpopulations in protected areas, but Fish and Wildlife added that the total population “originates from a very small gene pool, and loss of genetic diversity through interbreeding is the greatest threat to the Cape mountain zebra,” according to the agency’s bulletin on the action.
The Center for Biological Diversity called it a “sadly predictable” action for “thrill-kill hunters” under the Trump administration.
“Given Zinke’s cozy relationship with thrill-kill hunters, it’s sadly predictable that the Trump administration green-lighted trophy hunters’ effort to loosen protections for Cape mountain zebras," Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in an interview.
“Between the genetic threats and small remaining populations, we’ll be closely scrutinizing this effort to strip safeguards from these imperiled animals,” Sanerib added.
The hunting groups claimed that “the Cape mountain zebra is more limited than aided by an endangered listing, because that listing deters the licensed, regulated hunters that will incentivize continued expansion of the zebra’s habitat.”
John J. Jackson III of Conservation Force applauded the agency for advancing its petition. "Downlisting will benefit the Cape mountain zebra by encouraging greater private investment in the species, leading to increased habitat and continued population growth," Jackson said in an email. "Downlisting advances the goals of South Africa's management plan for the species. South Africa has a long history of restoring species through sustainable use, like the white rhino, bontebok, etc. It is a management strategy that works -- witness game animal recovery in the USA through regulated hunting. The FWS' action on this petition is also consistent with the intent of the CITES Parties, which downlisted the species for the purpose of improving trade in regulated hunting trophies in October 2016."