Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
California Can't Enforce Ban on Gator Products, Judge Rules
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
October 16, 2020

Share

NEW ORLEANS — California’s ban on selling alligator products probably violates federal laws and the state cannot enforce it while various legal challenges remain in court, a federal judge has ruled.

The state of Louisiana and companies in California, Florida and Texas are suing the state of California over its decision to ban the import and sale of alligator products, saying the ban will hurt an important industry and ultimately could hurt alligator and crocodile populations.

“We are encouraged by the court’s decision. We know this is the first step and not the last. But it gives Louisiana’s vital alligator industry the ability to continue operating in California and beyond,” Bill Hogan, chair of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, said in an emailed statement.

Companies that make and use alligator and crocodile leather and ranchers in Louisiana and Florida had filed suit Dec. 10 against the 2019 law, and Louisiana landowners had joined the state commission in another filed Dec. 12. Chief District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of California’s Eastern District consolidated them in Wednesday’s order against enforcement.

“Our office is reviewing the court’s decision,” the California attorney general’s press office said in an email.

Mueller’s order follows a temporary order that halted enforcement in December.

California’s law also covers products made from two crocodile species — Nile and saltwater — which also can be sold legally under an international conservation treaty and U.S. laws.

Louisiana and the other plaintiffs made a strong showing that federal law, including the Endangered Species Act, controls trade in those products and preempts California from barring trade in them, Mueller wrote. She rejected California’s argument that it was only regulating trade within the state.

Mueller’s Order Shows She Understands the Importance of Sustainable Trade

The judge said she wasn’t considering the lawsuits’ environmental claims because that “risks crossing the line from law into policy.”

Mueller’s order shows she understands the importance of sustainable trade and the economic and social impacts that a ban could have, said David E. Frulla, one of the Washington attorneys representing companies led by April in Paris, a San Francisco firm that makes and sells products from alligator and other exotic skins.

The firm was joined by companies in California, Texas and Florida, a Florida alligator farm and the Louisiana Alligator Farmers & Ranchers Association.

California’s arguments centered on “ability to enforce their policy goals,” while challengers showed “a likelihood of serious and far-reaching harm to their businesses and the managed conservation scheme they describe,” the judge wrote. She said that tipped “the balance of hardships … sharply in favor of the plaintiffs.”

Harvests and hide sales of American alligators and the two crocodile species are highly regulated, both for their own sake and because they look like other protected species.

“The crocodile industry is now worth over 100 million dollars a year, the illegal trade has all but vanished, and crocodiles are far more abundant than they were 50 years ago,” Dilys Roe, of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, said in a sworn statement backing up the companies’ request to prevent enforcement of California’s law.

Environmental and Animal Rights Groups Contend Gator Products’ Similar Appearances Still Pose a Danger

She said enforcement would do “profound and immediate” harm to crocodile populations and “thousands of poor people who rely on income earned from collecting eggs for crocodile farming.”

Environmental and animal rights groups contend gator products’ similar appearances still pose a danger to endangered or threatened species, including the endangered Chinese alligator — the only other alligator species in the world — and the Nile and saltwater crocodile, which are threatened in some areas but not in others.

American alligators are thriving since their removal from the endangered list in 1987. Louisiana officials say that’s partly due to the alligator business. Ranches depend on eggs harvested from the wild and return a percentage of hatched alligators to the areas where eggs were taken, once the reptiles are too big for any predators but people.

Louisiana landowners get harvest permits based on the state’s estimate of alligators on their property, and contract with licensed farms to collect eggs for incubation.

“It’s a big win for our industry, conservation and the state of Louisiana, and will help preserve our marshes here” because the gator business makes it profitable for private landowners to keep the wetlands intact, West Monroe alligator farmer Jeff Donald, a member of the state’s Alligator Advisory Council, said Thursday.

State Attorney General Jeff Landry said, “This victory for Louisiana jobs and conservation efforts would not have been possible without the great partnership by state officials, landowners, farmers and retailers. The teamwork has helped protect the incomes of thousands of working families and preserve the management of a critical species.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Small Businesses Drive the Economy. Yet Their Funding Is at Risk Under Trump.

DON'T MISS

‘Poet Warrior’ Joy Harjo Is Wednesday’s Speaker at Town Hall

DON'T MISS

College Student Stuns NBA Star, Wins $100K in 3-Point Contest

DON'T MISS

Aryan Brotherhood Members Convicted of Murder, Racketeering in Federal Trial

DON'T MISS

KMJ’s Iconic ‘Voice of Fresno,’ Al Smith, Dies at Age 86

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Executive Orders as Joint Interview with Musk Airs

DON'T MISS

Death of South Korean Actor at 24 Sparks Discussion About Social Media

DON'T MISS

Timeline of a Cultlike Group Tied to the Killing of a Border Patrol Agent

DON'T MISS

‘Life-threatening Cold’ Hits Parts of US Following Deadly Weekend Flooding

DON'T MISS

Blink-182 Bassist’s $6M Banksy Painting Heads to Auction for Charity

UP NEXT

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

UP NEXT

Tiny but Mighty: Cloe the Yorkie-Chihuahua Mix Seeks Her Perfect Match

UP NEXT

Poll: Where US Adults Think the Government Is Spending Too Much

UP NEXT

Fresno’s Spay, Neuter Fees Rise, but It Doesn’t Mean You Have to Pay Full Price

UP NEXT

Amy Loves Crinkle Balls and Fish Videos. Is She Your Furr-Ever Cat?

UP NEXT

Humpback Whale Briefly Swallows Kayaker — All Captured on Video

UP NEXT

USAID in Turmoil as Aid Programs Cut, Staff Stranded

UP NEXT

Pentagon’s New Media Rotation Program Boots NPR, NY Times, NBC News

UP NEXT

Apple Changes Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America on Maps

UP NEXT

Monty the Giant Schnauzer Wins Westminster Dog Show

Aryan Brotherhood Members Convicted of Murder, Racketeering in Federal Trial

1 hour ago

KMJ’s Iconic ‘Voice of Fresno,’ Al Smith, Dies at Age 86

1 hour ago

Trump to Sign Executive Orders as Joint Interview with Musk Airs

2 hours ago

Death of South Korean Actor at 24 Sparks Discussion About Social Media

2 hours ago

Timeline of a Cultlike Group Tied to the Killing of a Border Patrol Agent

2 hours ago

‘Life-threatening Cold’ Hits Parts of US Following Deadly Weekend Flooding

3 hours ago

Blink-182 Bassist’s $6M Banksy Painting Heads to Auction for Charity

3 hours ago

Trump Admin Gives Schools Deadline to End DEI Programs or Lose Federal Funding

3 hours ago

US and Russia Hold Historic Talks to End Ukraine War

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Tiffany Evelyn Tate

3 hours ago

Small Businesses Drive the Economy. Yet Their Funding Is at Risk Under Trump.

California’s small businesses — employers to more than half the state’s workforce — are staring down what some owners, experts, ...

10 minutes ago

10 minutes ago

Small Businesses Drive the Economy. Yet Their Funding Is at Risk Under Trump.

20 minutes ago

‘Poet Warrior’ Joy Harjo Is Wednesday’s Speaker at Town Hall

26 minutes ago

College Student Stuns NBA Star, Wins $100K in 3-Point Contest

1 hour ago

Aryan Brotherhood Members Convicted of Murder, Racketeering in Federal Trial

1 hour ago

KMJ’s Iconic ‘Voice of Fresno,’ Al Smith, Dies at Age 86

2 hours ago

Trump to Sign Executive Orders as Joint Interview with Musk Airs

2 hours ago

Death of South Korean Actor at 24 Sparks Discussion About Social Media

2 hours ago

Timeline of a Cultlike Group Tied to the Killing of a Border Patrol Agent

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend