On behalf of my client, WildEarth Guardians, who has graciously granted permission to discuss the details of the case in the press and blogosphere, I filed suit against Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on June 17th for failure to prepare and implement a recovery plan for two sub-species of Jaguarundi.

As we chose to file in Texas, I filed pro hac vice, through local counsel Pete Thompson of Thompson Marsh. Filing Pro Hac basically means Pete kindly agreed to let me file under his license and reputation with the Texas bar, as I am not licensed in that jurisdiction.

To summarize our claim a little; the Endangered Species Act requires the Secretary of the Interior develop and implement recovery plans for endangered and threatened species as ultimate purpose of the Act is to recover species to the point that the protections of the Act are no longer necessary. Well, these two sub-species of Jaguarundi were listed as endangered one year before Star Wars, A New Hope hit the big screen, and the Secretary still doesn’t have a recovery plan in place to help insure these species survival. We are arguing that this is undue delay and are asking the court order the Secretary prepare and implement such a plan posthaste.

There is a lot more legalese in the complaint, which you can read in the press release linked to above or again here. (You really don’t have to read it though. I won’t be hurt if you choose not to. I promise.)

Wish us luck!!

* ESA Recovery Plan word cloud created using Wordle