Preliminary Injunction Filed

[rkumetz]

"standing" is a horribly abused legal concept for throwing cases against the government out. I also think it was likely incorrectly argued.

The federal government has forced all 49 states that implemented falconry regulations to write state regulations to allow these warrantless searches. And some of those HAVE been excuted on. Some states have been more draconian with others on how they interpret inspections. California Fish and Wildlife for example publicly opined a few years ago that they had the legal authority to do an inspection whenever they wanted and they would act on that authority. My state has been relatively chill about it, and our falconry coordinator that recently retired was rumored to have taken the stand that in Washington inspections cannot happen without a warrant (I was not in on that conversation directly).

All the same, a graduated apprentice of mine was subjected to a drop in inspection here in Washington in late December [of 2021] without a warrant. This caused a lot of stir at the time with the local falconry community - especially since the falconry program coordinator with our wildlife department had been on the job for all of 2 months when this happened. However, as the facts came out everyone - including my former apprentice - agreed that the inspection was justified. Although there was still some friendly criticism for how it was executed. Turns out my apprentices neighbor had complained to fish and game that someone was keeping hawks caged up and was mistreating them. That complaint SHOULD have been followed up on - and when it was it was found to be baseless.

Still - it was a very nerve wracking experience for my former apprentice. And HE is an attorney...

We are fortunate in VT that our relationship with F&W is pretty good.
Our falconry coordinator is interested in what we do and our new commissioner thinks falconry is cool.

Cultivating a relationship with your local warden(s) is a great way to have someone dispelling rumors that
you are a shady hawk abuser when someone talks about inspecting you and if not they are likely to be
present so at least you have a face that you know present for the inspection. I try to remember to
invite our warden out hawking whenever we get a new one. Those of you in law enforcement will back
me up when I say that anyone who treats you in a friendly manner is a nice change when you are in
a job where people tend to dislike what you do for a living.

[rkumetz]

BTW I think the judge did exactly what the PLF attorneys were hoping for.

I maintain that they took the AFC case because their agenda is to take on any cases that they can which will allow
them to pad their CV's with litigation which might put them before the Supreme Court.

PLF has no interest in falconry (and most likely most of the other issues that they argue) whatsoever.

I hear that Soldier of Fortune Magazine has spun off a sister publication: "Attorney of Fortune"