Hippos Are Not People

If you are of a certain age, you may remember the drug lord Pablo Escobar. He founded and ran the Medellin Cartel in Colombia. His cartel monopolized the cocaine trade in the US during the 80s and early 90s. The profits from his illicit activities made him a billionaire which funded his extravagant lifestyle. Part of that lifestyle included a private zoo with four illegally imported hippopotamuses.

Escobar with his hippopotamuses

After his death, these four hippos “went native” and have reproduced. Their numbers have grown to 100 plus. As a non-native invasive species, they have caused issues for both native plants and animals. Scientists at the University of California-San Diego have documented their impact on water quality.

“This unique species has a big impact on its ecosystem in its native range in Africa, and we found that it has a similar impact when you import it into an entirely new continent with a completely different environment and cast of characters,” said UC San Diego Biological Sciences Professor Jonathan Shurin. “It’s clear that this effect might include negative consequences for water quality and water resources by fueling harmful algae and bacteria.”

There have been calls to have these hippos eradicated as a non-native invasive species. As you might surmise, this has upset some animal rights activists. They much prefer that the hippos be put on birth control or sterilized to control their reproduction. Attorneys in Colombia have gone to court there to save them from being killed. A quirk of Colombian law gives non-humans such as the hippos legal status to bring lawsuits.

Attorneys in Colombia wanted to depose two American wildlife scientists who are experts in non-surgical sterilization of animals. The courts in Colombia cannot compel them to provide depositions so animal rights activists went to court in the United States. US law allows “interested persons” in a foreign litigation to go to Federal court seeking permission to take depositions for use in their case. The key words are “interested persons”.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund brought suit in US District Court for the District of Southern Ohio on behalf of the hippos. However, the ALDF was not the plaintiff. The plaintiffs were “Community of Hippopotamuses Living in the Magdalena River”.

Applicant Community of Hippopotamuses Living in the Magdalena River (“Community”) hereby apply to this Court ex parte for an order pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (“Section 1782”) granting the Application to serve Dr. Elizabeth
Berkeley and Dr. Richard Berlinski with the deposition subpoenas annexed to the Flint Decl. as Exhibits A and B.

Remarkably, US Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz granted the ex parte application by the hippos and authorized their attorneys to serve subpoenas compelling the depositions.

If the claims by the Animal Legal Defense Fund are correct, this marks the first time that non-humans were recognized as “legal persons.”

ALDF Executive Director Stephen Wells said:

“Animals have the right to be free from cruelty and exploitation, and the failure of U.S. courts to recognize their rights impedes the ability to enforce existing legislative protections,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “The court’s order authorizing the hippos to exercise their legal right to obtain information in the United States is a critical milestone in the broader animal status fight to recognize that animals have enforceable rights.”

This is a dangerous ruling. While probably not precedential, it will be used by animal rights and anti-hunting groups in the future.

Will hunters be arrested for killing deer, doves, or any other animal? Will it lead to hunting being banned in its entirety?

Will meat packers be sued by cattle and swine to avoid being made into steaks and bacon?

What about fish? Will a suit be brought by the Community of Rainbow Trout Living in the Madison River to compel the testimony of fisheries biologists?

The list goes on. As I said, it is a dangerous ruling. To give standing and recognition to non-human species is opening a Pandora’s box. I don’t know if a magistrate judge’s ruling in an ex parte order is reviewable by the District Court Judge to whom the case was assigned. It should be and these subpoenas squashed. If the scientists in question wish to give a deposition in the case on their own, that is fine and their choice.

Fast And Furious IG Report, The Hearings, And A Whitewash

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had originally scheduled hearings for today to hear from the Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz. He was to testify on his report regarding Operation Fast and Furious. These hearings have been rescheduled for next Wednesday, September 19th.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that the hearing previously scheduled for tomorrow to examine the Department of Justice Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious has been rescheduled for Wednesday, September 19. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz has confirmed his attendance for the September 19th hearing where he will discuss his report of the investigation into reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious.

Some reports attribute this delay to the Inspector General’s report not being completely finished.

Horowitz in his letter also advised Issa that he may not be able to testify as scheduled Sept. 11 at a committee hearing about the inspector general’s Fast and Furious findings, if the report is not finished and publicly released by then. “As of this date,” he cautioned, “I do not yet know the precise timing for the release of our report.”

Horowitz noted that Justice officials on Wednesday “provided us with its initial sensitivity review for law enforcement sensitive information” including wiretaps, grand jury material and sealed court records.

“We are in the process of discussing these proposed sensitivity redactions with the Department,” Horowitz wrote in the letter, which arrived Wednesday. “We also are awaiting comments from the department regarding whether any material discussed in the report is covered by the president’s assertion of executive privilege.”

The Inspector General is also allowing Justice Department officials to read the report and provide comments/objections before it is released. It is this last part which concerns former Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams. He believes a “fix” is in and notes that the Inspector General never allowed any Bush-era DOJ appointees this opportunity. He suggests that the Oversight Committee ask to see the draft report as it existed before Eric Holder and his minions got a hold of it. I think this is a worthwhile suggestion that will probably be ignored.

Adams believes that this report will be just another whitewash of Obama’s political appointees at DOJ.

It has been amusing watching all the anticipation about the release of the Department of Justice Inspector General’s report on Fast and Furious. Some folks in Washington actually think that it will be the key that unlocks the door to the scandal. Balderdash. I’ve watched defective report after defective report come from the Justice Department internal affairs units. In the end, they always protect the institution, unless of course conservatives are in the cross hairs.

Unfortunately, I believe Adams to be correct in his assessment. I don’t think anyone who has followed Project Gunwalker from the early days ever expected the Inspector General’s report to be anything other than a whitewash.

One new development that was reported yesterday is the discovery of some of the gunwalked firearms in Colombia. The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reports that 2 rifles and 14 FN Five-Seven pistols seized during a raid of a Colombian crime syndicate have been traced to Project Gunwalker.

U.S. weapons that were exported to Mexico as part of the controversial “Fast and Furious” program ended up in the hands of Colombia crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado, reported newspaper El Tiempo Monday.

According to the newspaper, investigations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have established that some of the weapons found during the arrest of Oficina boss “Sebastian” were part of the thousands of arms lost in the Fast and Furious program.

“Two rifles that were seized in February with ‘Frank’, the brother of Sebastian also are part of the tracking operations of the ATF, the same with 14 Five-seven guns we have found in several raids,” an anonymous high-ranking source within Colombia’s National Police was quoted as saying by El Tiempo.

The source added that ATF agents are in Medellin where the Oficina operates and inspect every seized firearm found in raids in Colombia’s second largest city.

I think we will see these guns turn up at crime scenes throughout the Western Hemisphere for years to come.