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Animal Law Keyed to Wagman
Animal Welfare Institute v. Kreps
Citation:
561 F.2d 1002 (1977)Facts
The Marine Mammal Protection Act imposes a moratorium on taking or importing marine mammals or marine mammal products, with limited exceptions. The Director of the National Marine Fisheries Service can waive this moratorium according to detailed procedural and substantive requirements. In 1975, Fouke Company sought a waiver to import Cape fur sealskins from South Africa. The Director waived the moratorium on condition that South Africa’s annual harvest not exceed 70,000 seals. Environmental organizations challenged this waiver, arguing it violated the MMPA because it would allow importation of sealskins from seals less than eight months old, nursing at the time of taking, or taken inhumanely. The government defined “eight months old” using a mean birthdate of December 1, meaning any seal killed on or after August 1 was deemed old enough for importation, despite evidence that 50% of seals would be less than eight months old under this definition. Similarly, the government interpreted “nursing” to mean only “obligatory nursing” necessary for survival, not “convenience nursing.” The plaintiffs argued these interpretations violated the plain language of the statute.
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