May 13, 2021 — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the planned blood harvest of thousands of horseshoe crabs in a South Carolina wildlife refuge until a lawsuit seeking to require the practice be conducted sustainably is resolved.
Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a motion in March seeking to stop a pharmaceutical company’s practice of harvesting horseshoe crabs for their blood as they come ashore to lay eggs each spring in the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Bruce H. Hendricks released a 29-page opinion granting the groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction and halting a planned harvest while the case is pending.
The Atlantic horseshoe crab is a protected species and critical contributor to biomedical research. Medical researchers value the arthropod’s milky-blue blood because it is the only known natural source of limulus amebocyte lysate —a substance that can detect dangerous endotoxins in drugs and vaccines.