This commentary is by Alana Stevenson of Charlotte, an animal behaviorist and trainer.
I would like to know why legislators failed to pass or move any pro-wildlife bills this year in 2021. There was a bill, H.316, to put hunting dogs under visual and verbal control of hounders. It was not passed despite having multiple co-sponsors.
Why is the Legislature catering to a few fringe individuals? The majority in the know and who have experience with Vermont Fish & Wildlife don’t like how the department operates, or how the board is run, but they are powerless to do anything. Less than 6% of the U.S. population hunts. Even less trap or hound animals. Most deer hunters and fishermen do not agree with indiscriminate and cruel traps set on public trails, killing contests, or hounding.
The only thing that will change the way the department operates is if the state enacts pro-wildlife legislation. Laws must be created by the Vermont Legislature (not the board members — who are rabid hunters, trappers and hounders). Allowing hounders and trappers to regulate themselves and control Vermont’s wildlife is negligent and irresponsible.
More than 20 years ago, I taught in the Northeast Kingdom, and being from upstate New York at the time, I was horrified that hounding was so unregulated. I contacted a local legislator. He said Vermonters had been trying to end bear hounding for years, but “It’s Vermont,” and he chuckled. He said people hate it, but it’s not going away. Now, it’s 2021 and there are still too few laws protecting wildlife.
Wild animals are given zero protections.
Facts: If you are a wildlife rehabber, you are not allowed to help the vast majority of animals in Vermont. You are not allowed to help an adult skunk, raccoon, fox, coyote, and many other creatures — even if you are vaccinated, and even if you are a veterinarian.
No game warden has access to sedatives, dart or tranquilizer guns to quickly sedate an animal, move it, or give it assistance. Other countries, and professions, use them all the time when working with animals.
We’re told, “Let nature run its course,” but most wildlife injuries are human-inflicted. Nature didn’t cause them. Humans did. Nature did not lodge an arrow in a deer’s head and then leave that deer to work it out on its own, nor did nature cause a skunk to get its head stuck in a peanut butter jar. Nature didn’t injure a wild animal by hitting it with a car or cause a baby animal to become orphaned by shooting or running over its mother.
If you have a hunting or trapping license, you can beat, stab and bludgeon an animal and then leave it helpless and injured, but no one is allowed to help or aid that animal. This is how it is in Vermont.
More people care about wild animals than want to kill them. Wildlife rehabbers are overwhelmed with calls from people wanting to help injured or orphaned wildlife. When anyone calls the Fish & Wildlife Department, they are told to either let the injured animal be (let it suffer and watch — no reasonable person wants to do that) or kill it in some fashion (gas it, beat it, suffocate it). This is the advice, or some ridiculous variation, given to the public by Vermont Fish & Wildlife.
Vermonters are not allowed to “relocate” an animal that they may need help with (if it’s interfering with their garden or home), nor are they provided with solutions for prevention and coexistence. Instead, they are told by Fish & Wildlife to kill the animal in some barbaric way.
Why is the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board and Department allowed to run this way?
There is not one wildlife veterinarian on their staff.
Wildlife rehabbers are required to report regularly. They have a myriad of restrictions (often mundane and contrary) placed on them by the Fish & Wildlife Department that they must “abide by: or they will lose their license. Yet trappers and hounders don’t have to report at all, even if they kill, maim, or injure an endangered animal or someone’s pet. The Fish & Wildlife Department fights any restrictions if they are directed toward hunters, hounders and trappers.
The public is not allowed to “touch” or help “rabies vector” species — raccoons, skunks, foxes and so on. Yet, hunters and trappers can physically attack, beat, hang and skin these very same animals — no vaccinations required and without restraint.
Why are Vermont legislators allowing this double standard to continue?
The public is expected to maintain control over their dogs. Pet dogs are not allowed to chase or target wildlife and can be shot for chasing wildlife. But hounders can release packs of untrained dogs, unsupervised and without restrictions, to chase and attack wild animals in the woods where they live.
Fish & Wildlife heads complain that they are not making enough money and want to charge nonhunters for use of fishing accesses and wildlife trails to support their hunting endeavors. Yet, more money is generated from trails and parks such as Mount Philo where hunting does not occur.
More people want to help animals than hurt them. People want to feel safe in the woods. Why is the Vermont Legislature continuing to cater to a few, when most of the public do not condone or use the tactics promoted and practiced by the Fish & Wildlife Board, Department, and commissioner?
Common sense has failed greatly here. We deserve better.
