Copyright AL.com
Mobile County Circuit Court Judge Michael Youngpeter sided with the town of Dauphin Island and the state department of conservation Thursday, saying that he does not have standing to stop the town from carrying out a plan to trap and kill some foxes on the West End of Dauphin Island. But the two fox enthusiasts who sued Dauphin Island are free to try their luck in federal court, he said. “If you’re saying there’s a better way to handle it [predator control], that’s a science question and you need to take it to my friends next door in federal court,” Youngpeter told Mary Beth Mantiply, who represents the plaintiffs. Duane Wood and Spencer Harrison sued the town of Dauphin Island in September, seeking to stop the town from contracting with the federal government to remove foxes from the West End of Dauphin Island, which is a dedicated nature preserve. The town owns the property, which was purchased using funds from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill settlements. In order to protect snowy plovers, loggerhead sea turtles and other endangered species as required by the Deepwater Horizon settlement plan, the town said foxes and other predators need to be removed from the property. Wood and Harrison argued that it was inhumane to trap and kill the foxes. Harrison has become famous on social media for his photos of the foxes, including one he named “Roxy,” whom he said he’s befriended. “I began taking pictures of her, and bringing dog biscuits to her,” Harrison said. “She would sit down next to me, after she ate her chicken, she would just sit down and chill out.” But the state, which joined the case alongside the town, argued that the court had no standing to determine whether it was right to remove the foxes. Managing the predators on the West End is part of a much larger plan to maintain the habitat for endangered species, they said, which stems from the federal government’s intent to use the oil spill funds to restore coastal habitat in the Gulf. “All of this conservation issue is based on a federal issue,” Nash Campbell, who represents the town of Dauphin Island, told reporters after the hearing. “I think they should have done this through an appellate procedure long ago.” In a packed courtroom, the two sides presented evidence, including photos from social media of foxes being fed chicken legs and eggs, to back up their claims. At times, the proceedings even became emotional and heated. “It’s not just foxes,” Mantiply told reporters after the hearing. “It’s foxes, and racoons, and bobcats, and a lot of people understand the importance of the predator-prey balance.” Some Dauphin Island residents resonate with Harrison and also care about the foxes. A petition started last month to prevent the fox removal has more than 2,500 signatures. But in the end, Youngpeter decided he didn’t have the power to prevent the fox removal. The wildlife management plan for the West End, which was created over the course of several years, is in the jurisdiction of the federal government, he said. Because no foxes had actually been removed, he had no jurisdiction. Youngpeter will not enter his official written ruling until Monday, he told the courtroom. Leif Stephens, who directs the Alabama division of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (the agency that would carry out the removal), told the court Thursday that not all foxes will be targeted. Only those that have learned to target bird and turtle nests will be targeted for removal. It’s not feasible to relocate the foxes, he said, because of disease and potential aggression from other foxes. “There is no intention to wipe out any kind of species,” Stephens told the courtroom. Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier previously told AL.com that other methods of deterring the foxes from targeting the nests haven’t worked. There are foxes on other parts of the island, he said, and those will not be targeted. Mantiply told reporters she would confer with Wood and Harrison to decide if they would take the case to federal court.
