Feld Entertainment, Inc. v. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

MEMORANDUM OPINION

EMMET G. SULLIVAN, District Judge.

This case arises out of a prior, long running litigation in this Court over whether Feld Entertainment Inc. (“FEI”) violated the Endangered Species Act by its use of Asian elephants in FEI’s Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus (“Circus”). That litigation (hereinafter the “ESA Action”) was brought by several non-profit organizations and one individual plaintiff, Thomas Rider (“Rider”), who had worked with several of FEI’s elephants in the Circus. After nine years of litigation and a six week non-jury trial, the Court concluded that…