Comment to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding Listing African lion as Threatened under Endangered Species Act (January 2015)

SUMMARY

The Committee on Animal Law submitted a letter in response to a request for comments from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding a petition to list the subspecies African lion as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Committee recommended that the Secretary of the Interior determine the African lion “is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range,” and list the subspecies as “endangered” throughout its range under the Act, rather than as “threatened.” The Committee based its recommendation on its analysis of the work done by established organizations regarding the conditions in which the African lion exists, as applied to the relevant law, which demonstrates that the African lion satisfies the criteria for designation as “endangered” under the Act. The Committee also noted that the population of African lions continues to decline at a significant rate.