BATON ROUGE, LA - Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s
Office has a filed a federal lawsuit challenging a California Law that bans the
importation and sale of alligator skins, meats, and other products derived from
the reptile. The challenge was filed last night in the Eastern District of California
on behalf of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, the Louisiana
Landowners Association, and the Delacroix Corporation.
“California’s law is in direct conflict with Federal Law and
court precedent,” said General Landry. “What’s more: California’s regulatory
scheme threatens jobs that thousands of families rely upon and it jeopardizes
very successful conservation efforts.”
“We are taking this legal action to protect the incomes of working families, preserve the management and preservation of a
critical species, and uphold the rule of law,” added General Landry. “If the
California ban is allowed to go into effect - it would destroy the alligator
industry and its jobs in Louisiana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and California.”
General Landry’s lawsuit notes that the alligator trade is
supported by conservationists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the
Department of the Interior, and Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species experts.
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California Penal Code Section 653o bans the importation,
possession with intent to sell, and sale of all alligator products in the state
of California. The alligator ban was originally enjoined in 1979 in Fouke Co.
v. Brown with the court finding that the alligator ban is preempted by the
Endangered Species Act; the Fouke injunction is still in force. Recognizing its
legal defects, California repealed the alligator ban in 2006, subject to a
sunset provision that is now set to expire on January 1, 2020. As the
California Legislature has failed to extend the sunset provision, in the
absence of court action, the law will go into effect on January 1, 2020.