FWS Fires Biologists Who Blew Whistle On Florida Panther Fraud

[hatrack]

Washington, DC — "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 --

· Threats by supervisors for voicing biological concerns about the effects of development projects in panther habitat;
· Orders to delete “jeopardy” findings from biological opinions; and
· Ignoring scientific flaws that Eller raised, including unrealistic assumptions about panther reproduction rates and kitten survival."

EDIT

http://www.ems.org/nws/2004/11/08/fish_agency_does

[glitch]

1. The purges will accelerate now. They're playing wack-a-mole openly

Govt employees get the role of the mole.

[Village Idiot]

2. Must be ONE SMART KID!!!

"Andrew Eller, Jr., an 18-year FWS biologist, had spent the past ten years working in the Florida panther recovery program"

[atommom]

3. They're no longer even bothering to hide their disdain for whistleblowers.

Not a good time to be a government scientist, if you truly value science. :(

[RegexReader]

4. was a whistleblower

and got properly skatted upon by corporate amerikkka. Never a good time to be ethical when cutting against the grain.

RegexReader
$USA =~ s/Republican/Democrat/ig;