Humane Society International v. Haaland

During the final weeks of the Biden administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reached agreements that set schedules for review of the status of species to determine whether listing them as endangered or threatened is warranted. The plaintiffs in these cases identified climate change as one of the threats facing these species. Humane Society International and three other organizations reached an agreement with FWS pursuant to which FWS will review the status of the common hippopotamus and submit a 12-month finding to the Federal Register by July 27, 2028 on whether listing the species is warranted.

Four organizations filed a lawsuit asking the federal district court for the District of Columbia to order the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to issue a 12-month finding under the Endangered Species Act on the plaintiffs’ March 2022 petition to list the common hippopotamus as endangered or threatened. The organizations alleged that the FWS in March 2023 made a determination that listing might be warranted due to potential threats including climate change but had yet to make the 12-month findings more than two years after the petition was submitted.