Editor’s note: Kristen Cameron is a Burlington resident with a Master’s degree in public administration from UVM.
Your opinions don’t matter to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (VFWD) and Board, unless you hunt, trap or fish. Your tax dollars don’t make your opinion worthy, even as the VFWD takes more of them from the general fund. Being a wildlife watcher, an activity that brings money into the local economy on par with hunting, also doesn’t give your opinion any weight. The VFWD website claims they base their decisions “on science, but also with public input of people’s concerns about moose.” This public comment process for the moose proposal tells a different story.
Recently, the VFWD went through the motions of taking public comments for their proposed 2020 moose hunt — despite Vermont’s plummeting moose population. I was already concerned about the proposal, because it was based on a study that the highly controversial Safari Club International, a mouthpiece for trophy hunters worldwide, partially funded with $120,800. SCI is known for supporting trophy hunting of exotic animals like giraffes and elephants. The April 22, 2020 VFWD board minutes state the results of the public hearing process as the “public generally supports the proposal” and “[t]here was some opposition which seemed to come from people who were opposed to moose hunting generally.” These two comments confirm a misrepresentation of facts and bias that permeates VFWD and the board’s decision-making processes.
First, the misrepresentation. My accounting of the hearing notes, emails and voicemails go against their assertion that the public supported the proposal. My count found 73 comments about moose — 38 were opposed, only 9 were in support, and 21 were neutral (5 were about moose, but not about the moose hunt specifically). The hearing notes created by VFWD were also problematic. These were not verbatim transcripts. At least one comment that the VFWD’s description makes sound neutral, bordering on positive, was not. I listened to the commenter during that hearing and took my own notes. The person was questioning the accuracy of VFWD’s data collection methods. Even plus or minus a few, how does 38 opposed to nine in favor warrant the conclusion that the “public generally supports the proposal”?
Second, and more concerning, is that the minutes claim “[t]here was some opposition which seemed to come from people who were opposed to moose hunting generally.” For VFWD to dismiss the opinions of residents because someone at the VFWD decided they were “opposed to moose hunting generally” is unethical, biases their findings and wastes everyone’s time with the costly charade of holding hearings. Stating a position on “moose hunting generally” was not a requirement to speak at the April 15 meeting that I attended, nor should it have been. How then does VFWD determine who is generally “for” or “opposed to” moose hunting generally? It’s worrisome to think the VFWD keeps some sort of blacklist of people they do or don’t listen to.
It is the responsibility of VFWD to work on behalf of the people of Vermont (not just the hunters and trappers of Vermont) and to be transparent in their decision-making process. This means not misrepresenting the will of the public or dismissing public sentiment from certain people to suit their agenda. The iconic Vermont moose are at stake, and that affects all of us Vermonters. I asked the wildlife director to correct the record. One month later, I received a semi-substantive response from Commissioner Porter that only picked out the smallest piece, my concern that VFWD failed to accurately summarize the comments. Nothing about the two statements that illustrate bias and misrepresent the numbers. He went on to prove my point about bias by suggesting that because my position aligns with an alleged “animal rights organization,” it lacks merit.
So be aware. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board appears only to care what you think if you like to kill wildlife. Your tax dollars, appreciation of wildlife, and their statutory responsibility under 10 V.S.A §4081 to hold wildlife in trust for the benefit of Vermont citizens don’t mean a thing.