The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has come under more scrutiny during the Trump administration than under perhaps any other in the history of the agency itself, and with good reason: Trump’s appointee to head the department was himself a big game hunter and trophy fisherman.
That in and of itself isn’t necessarily enough to raise alarms, although it did seem like sort of a “fox watching the henhouse” kind of situation. What worried people was the fact that, like seemingly everyone in the Trump administration, Sheehan has a very shady past that includes taking money from unsavory types, and is currently a member of a rather unsavory group himself.
Back before he joined the federal government, Sheehan was in charge of Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources, which sounds a lot like a conservation outfit, but really is a promotional agency for hunting and fishing. Sheehan was criticized then for accepting more than a million dollars from a group called “Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife,” founded by a huge donor to George W. Bush. That group was famous for not opposing, like most wildlife groups did, Bush’s oil and gas policies on public lands. Sheehan was called out multiple times for giving preference to SFW members in the distribution of permits.
Sheehan was also responsible for the huge public debacle over the trophy killing of elephants. When Trump announced the reversal of the ban on importing elephant trophies, Sheehan could barely contain his joy — as a member of Safari Club International, Sheehan had a vested interest in seeing that policy come to an end. Of course, Trump reversed the reversal after a huge public outcry — although Sheehan issued a memo shortly after that saying that the ban may not apply to certain cases, and that trophy importing would be assessed “on a case-by-case basis.”
Unfortunately for Donald Trump, he doesn’t have Greg Sheehan to blame for his disastrous wildlife policies anymore.
Citing time with his family, Sheehan has stepped down from the agency. That, of course, is the most common reason given for resignations prior to the full terms that federal employees have previously sworn to fulfill.
Usually, it’s because they have made the public hate them. Greg Sheehan, whatever his other accomplishments may have been at the USFWS, whether they were killing elephants and lions in Africa, taking money in exchange for loosened wildlife restrictions, or recommending policies that would weaken the Endangered Species Act, was great at making people hate him.
Featured image via screen capture
