SCI Challenges California Mountain Lion Import Ban in Federal Court
Safari Club International 08.07.14
Safari Club International (SCI) filed a lawsuit in federal court on August 6, 2014, challenging a California law that bans the importation, transportation, and possession of mountain lions hunted outside of California. The California law, enacted in 1990 through a voter initiative, has discouraged hunters in California from hunting mountain lions in others states and countries. SCI’s members in California and surrounding states strongly encouraged SCI to challenge this misguided ban.
“For too long California has interfered with the hunting of mountain lions in other states by residents of California,” said SCI President Craig Kauffman. “Back in 1990, ill-informed California voters decided it was a good idea to take the management of this predator species out of the hands of the wildlife professionals. Not only did they ban mountain lion hunting within the state, but they went further and tried to impose on other states their misguided views on mountain lion hunting. The result was a harmful and illegal ban on the importation of mountain lions hunted outside of California.”
SCI’s main claims in the case are that the import/possession ban violates the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause and Equal Protection Clause. The ban both infringes on interstate commerce without serving a strong local interest and discriminates against hunters who wish to import mountain lions as compared to hunters of other non-protected wildlife. SCI filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (Sacramento). The two defendants are the California Attorney General Kamala Harris and the Director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Charlton Bonham.
Contact:
Nelson Freeman (media@safariclub.org)
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.
