[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 576 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Save Endangered Species Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Congress finds:
            (1) Captive breeding programs are an essential part of re-
        establishing endangered species populations.
            (2) While the scimitar-horned oryx is extinct, and the 
        addax and the dama gazelle are endangered, in their native 
        Africa, thanks to the hunting industry their populations are 
        flourishing and thriving in Texas.
            (3) U.S. populations of the scimitar-horned oryx, addax and 
        the dama gazelle are not taken from the wild, but are bred from 
        animals imported in the 1970s.
            (4) A biologist and executive director of the Fossil Rim 
        Wildlife Center in Glen Rose, tells The Houston Chronicle, ``In 
        this instance, Texas ranchers have done an astonishing job of 
        rebuilding three species of African antelope, one of which is 
        extinct in the wild. When it comes to saving a species, 
        government on its own cannot save those species. The private 
        sector has to get involved.''
            (5) The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wisely granted an 
        exemption from certain provisions of the Endangered Species Act 
        relating to the ``taking'' of animals endangered overseas, but 
        flourishing in the United States.
            (6) An anti-hunting activist group opposed to hunting filed 
        suit against the Interior Department seeking to outlaw the 
        hunting of the scimitar-horned oryx, addax and the dama 
        gazelle, and in 2012 the Interior Department complied, 
        declaring their large and flourishing Texas populations were 
        ``endangered'' under the Endangered Species Act.
            (7) Banning the hunting of an unendangered species in Texas 
        does absolutely nothing to protect overseas endangered 
        populations in Africa.
            (8) Banning the hunting of an unendangered species in the 
        United States actually places overseas endangered populations 
        in danger of extinction by removing any incentive to breed and 
        maintain them.
            (9) Restoring the domestic hunting of these species is 
        essential to maintaining healthy captive breeding programs if 
        we are to restore or save them in their native Africa.

SEC. 3. RESTORE THE PREVIOUS RULE.

    (a) Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the 
final rule published on September 2, 2005 (70 Fed. Reg. 52310 et seq.), 
without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that 
applies to issuance of such rule.
    (b) Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject 
to judicial review.
                                 <all>