Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen Task Force v. Montana

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in part a district court’s granting of injunctive relief preventing the State of Montana from authorizing wolf trapping and snaring in certain places and at certain times of year when grizzly bears would not be denning. The Ninth Circuit found that the district court applied the proper preliminary injunction standard and that the district court did not abuse its discretion when determining that the plaintiffs raised a serious question on the merits as to whether Montana’s recreational wolf trapping and snaring regulations would cause unlawful “take” of grizzly bears. The Ninth Circuit further found that “it was plausible for the district court to find a reasonably certain threat of imminent harm to grizzly bears should Montana’s wolf trapping and snaring season proceed as planned,” including because the plaintiffs’ evidence showed that nearly 40% of grizzly bears would be active during the proposed wolf trapping season due in part to the warming of temperatures and the availability of vegetal food earlier and later in the year. The Ninth Circuit found that the temporal scope of the injunction was supported but that it was geographically overbroad. The Ninth Circuit also found that the injunction should not have applied to wolf trapping and snaring related to government research. One judge dissented in part, writing that the preliminary injunction should have been vacated entirely.