I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 576 

To save endangered species. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 6, 2013 

Mr. STOCKMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To save endangered species. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Endangered Spe5 cies Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) Congress finds: 

8 (1) Captive breeding programs are an essential 

9 part of re-establishing endangered species popu10 lations. 

11 (2) While the scimitar-horned oryx is extinct, 

12 and the addax and the dama gazelle are endangered, 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 576 IH

1 in their native Africa, thanks to the hunting indus2 try their populations are flourishing and thriving in 

3 Texas. 

4 (3) U.S. populations of the scimitar-horned 

5 oryx, addax and the dama gazelle are not taken 

6 from the wild, but are bred from animals imported 

7 in the 1970s. 

8 (4) A biologist and executive director of the 

9 Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, tells The 

10 Houston Chronicle, ‘‘In this instance, Texas ranch11 ers have done an astonishing job of rebuilding three 

12 species of African antelope, one of which is extinct 

13 in the wild. When it comes to saving a species, gov14 ernment on its own cannot save those species. The 

15 private sector has to get involved.’’ 

16 (5) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wisely 

17 granted an exemption from certain provisions of the 

18 Endangered Species Act relating to the ‘‘taking’’ of 

19 animals endangered overseas, but flourishing in the 

20 United States. 

21 (6) An anti-hunting activist group opposed to 

22 hunting filed suit against the Interior Department 

23 seeking to outlaw the hunting of the scimitar-horned 

24 oryx, addax and the dama gazelle, and in 2012 the 

25 Interior Department complied, declaring their large 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 576 IH

1 and flourishing Texas populations were ‘‘endan2 gered’’ under the Endangered Species Act. 

3 (7) Banning the hunting of an unendangered 

4 species in Texas does absolutely nothing to protect 

5 overseas endangered populations in Africa. 

6 (8) Banning the hunting of an unendangered 

7 species in the United States actually places overseas 

8 endangered populations in danger of extinction by 

9 removing any incentive to breed and maintain them. 

10 (9) Restoring the domestic hunting of these 

11 species is essential to maintaining healthy captive 

12 breeding programs if we are to restore or save them 

13 in their native Africa. 

14 SEC. 3. RESTORE THE PREVIOUS RULE. 

15 (a) Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on 

16 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

17 Interior shall reissue the final rule published on September 

18 2, 2005 (70 Fed. Reg. 52310 et seq.), without regard to 

19 any other provision of statute or regulation that applies 

20 to issuance of such rule. 

21 (b) Such reissuance (including this section) shall not 

22 be subject to judicial review. 

Æ 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS