California Land Owners Accused of Disrupting Kit Foxes’ Habitat

The owners of two parcels of land in Bakersfield, Calif., were hit with a citizen suit under the Endangered Species Act for their alleged repeated disking of the soil despite being aware that the area was home to endangered San Joaquin kit foxes.

Shawn Smallwood, a California resident, sued SASD Development Group LLC, Thomas Carosella, and Lisa M. Carosella Oct. 4, accusing the defendants of destroying dens and disrupting the kit foxes’ normal behavioral patterns, which constitute illegal harassment and “taking” of the species under the ESA.

The complaint filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of ...