Fish & Wildlife Service Fires Panther Whistleblower
Agency Does Not Dispute Orders to Suppress Scientific Findings
By: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Published: Nov 9, 2004
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has decided to terminate the biologist who publicly challenged its reliance on flawed studies about the habitat and population of the endangered Florida panther, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The agency’s action comes ten weeks after a federal court found the agency guilty of scientific fraud on the same grounds raised by the now-former employee.
Andrew Eller, Jr., an 18-year FWS biologist, had spent the past ten years working in the Florida panther recovery program. This spring, he filed formal charges that studies relied upon by the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) to make decisions about proposed development in Southwest Florida inflate panther population and inaccurately minimize habitat needs. One week after that filing, the agency proposed his termination. On Friday, November 5th, FWS finalized its termination of Eller.
“This case is about whether scientific dissent will be tolerated under the Bush Administration,” stated PEER General Counsel Richard Condit who will be leading Eller’s legal challenge of his firing. “A federal court found the agency knowingly used junk science to okay projects, but the official committing the fraud gets a commendation while the one who exposed it is fired.”
Contending that its actions were motivated solely by the timeliness of Eller’s work, FWS officials did not reply to Eller’s affidavit citing evidence of retaliation, including --
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