SCI’s Arguments Win Minnesota Wolf Case
Safari Club International 05.28.13
Based on arguments presented by Safari Club International (SCI) the Minnesota Court of Appeals today dismissed a legal challenge to Minnesota’s wolf harvest. The Court ruled that the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and Howling for Wolves failed to show their members were harmed by the process used by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to establish the state’s wolf season.
“The Minnesota Court of Appeals made the right decision today,” said SCI President Craig Kauffman. “SCI will remain at the forefront to challenge organizations like CBD at every turn. We hope that every hunter understands the threat that organizations like CBD play in undermining scientifically determined hunting seasons across the country.”
Earlier in the case, the state’s attorneys defeated the challengers’ attempts to shut down the wolf hunt on an emergency basis. SCI then joined the case to help defend the state’s rulemaking process. SCI’s brief and oral argument to the court focused on the animal rights groups’ lack of standing to challenge the rulemaking. The Minnesota Court agreed with SCI and ruled that the petitioners had failed to demonstrate that they had suffered any harm from the rulemaking. Instead, the Court found that the groups merely disagreed with the legislature’s policy of allowing wolf harvests and this was not a sufficient basis for bringing a legal challenge to the rules that administer that policy.
SCI’s in-house litigation attorneys were assisted by Minnesota local counsel Ryan Burt of the firm of Halleland Habicht PA. Burt is also President-Elect of SCI’s Minnesota Chapter.
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
