(a) Except as provided in §§ 17.4 through 17.8, or in a permit issued pursuant to § 17.32, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and all of the provisions of § 17.21 (for endangered species of wildlife), except § 17.21(c)(3) and (5), apply to threatened species of wildlife, unless the Secretary has promulgated species-specific provisions (see paragraph (c) of this section).
(b)(1) Notwithstanding § 17.21(c)(1), and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, any other Federal land management agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, a State conservation agency, or a federally recognized Tribe, who is designated by their agency or Tribe for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of their official duties, take threatened wildlife without a permit if such action is necessary to:
(i) Aid a sick, injured, or orphaned specimen; or
(ii) Dispose of a dead specimen; or
(iii) Salvage a dead specimen that may be useful for scientific study; or
(iv) Remove specimens that constitute a demonstrable but nonimmediate threat to human safety, provided that the taking is done in a humane manner; the taking may involve killing or injuring only if it has not been reasonably possible to eliminate such threat by live-capturing and releasing the specimen unharmed, in an appropriate area.
(2) Any taking under paragraph (b)(1) of this section must be reported in writing to the Office of Law Enforcement, via contact methods listed at https://www.fws.gov, within 5 calendar days. The specimen may only be retained, disposed of, or salvaged under directions from the Office of Law Enforcement.
(3) Notwithstanding § 17.21(c)(1), and unless otherwise specified, any employee or agent of the Service, of the National Marine Fisheries Service, or of a State conservation agency that is operating a conservation program pursuant to the terms of an approved cooperative agreement with the Service that covers the threatened species of wildlife in accordance with section 6(c) of the Act, who is designated by their agency for such purposes, may, when acting in the course of their official duties, take those species.
(c) For threatened species of wildlife that have a species-specific rule in §§ 17.40 through 17.48, the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section and § 17.32 apply unless otherwise specified, and the species-specific rule will contain all of the prohibitions and any additional exceptions that apply to that species.
[89 FR 23939, Apr. 5, 2024]
Notes of Decisions
In Re Polar Bear Endangered Species Act Listing, 818 F. Supp. 2d 214 (D.D.C. 2011).
· cites it 13× “See 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 (a). However, this regulation provides that where the agency issues a special rule for a particular species pursuant to Section 4(d), that special rule "will contain all the applicable prohibitions and exceptions" and "none of the provisions of [paragraph…”
Babbitt v. Sweet Home Chapter, Communities for Great Ore., 515 U.S. 687 (1995).
· cites it 2× “See 50 CFR § 17.31 (a) (1994).In the District Court respondents unsuccessfully challenged that regulation's extension of § 9 to threatened species, but they do not press the challenge here.”
Sierra Club v. U.S. Dep't of the Interior, 899 F.3d 260 (4th Cir. 2018).
“21 (c) (endangered species); 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 (threatened species). To "take" a species is "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.”
Safari Club Int'l v. Jewell, 213 F. Supp. 3d 48 (D.D.C. 2016).
· cites it 5× “The Secretary has exercised the authority under section 1533(d) by issuing a regulation that extends the Act’s prohibitions on endangered species to all threatened species, 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 (a), unless the agency has issued a special rule to govern a specific species.”
Wild Fish Conservancy v. Salazar, 628 F.3d 513 (9th Cir. 2010).
· cites it 2× “*519 See 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 . The take prohibition applies generally to bull trout in Washington, although fishing activities authorized under state, federal, or tribal laws and regulations are exempted.”
Animal Welfare Inst. v. Martin, 623 F.3d 19 (1st Cir. 2010).
· cites it 2× “§ 1532 (20); 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 (a). The term “take” means to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect.”
Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. Flowers, 321 F.3d 1250 (10th Cir. 2003).
“§ 1538 (a)(1)(B) & (G); 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 (a). The term "take” means "to harass, harm, *1255 pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.”
Safari Club Int'l v. Ryan Zinke, 878 F.3d 316 (D.C. Cir. 2017).
“See 50 C.F.R. § 17.31 (a). The Service reserved the right, however, to create “special rule[s]” regarding threatened species, which “contain all the applicable prohibitions and exceptions” regarding import of that species.”
— 50 C.F.R. § 17.31(a) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.