This commentary is by Brenna Galdenzi of Stowe, president of Protect Our Wildlife.
It’s an exciting time in Vermont for wildlife! Between the 2021 and 2022 legislative sessions, four bills were introduced that would positively impact Vermont’s wildlife.
Thousands of Vermonters and a handful of wildlife protection groups, including Protect Our Wildlife, worked hard to bring these bills to the forefront. Bills S.201 and S.281 prohibit the most gratuitously cruel practices, leghold trapping and coyote hounding, respectively; H.411 bans wanton waste by requiring that hunters and trappers utilize the animals they kill, and the fourth, S.129, changes the insular Fish & Wildlife Board’s composition and authority to increase inclusion and addresses concerns that the regulated (that is, hunters, trappers and anglers) have been largely regulating themselves.
The Legislature has offered multiple opportunities for both sides to be heard. However, paid lobbyists for trappers and hounders are claiming that the public hearing process was biased toward “affluent urbanites” versus rural Vermonters. Testimony proves otherwise. There has been a tremendous outpouring of support for the pro-wildlife bills from all kinds of people, including rural residents, farmers, small business owners and hunters.
When the lobbyists cannot win on the merits of their positions, they seek to blame the process. It speaks to how these lobbyists are so accustomed to having the exclusive ear of the Fish & Wildlife Board that, when required to engage in real democracy via the Legislature, they view it as unfair. If trappers and hounders chose not to sign up or speak up, then that’s their decision. A trapper from Fairfax signed up but when his name was called to testify, he hung up. That is not the fault of the legislators.
Many of the people who testified in support of all four bills are in fact rural Vermonters. Anyone with a landline or cellphone could call in to testify over Zoom. Supporters from Eden, Shoreham, Derby and other rural towns with spotty internet service testified in high numbers because they are tired of abusive practices passed off as “tradition” or “recreation.”
The courage that these citizens displayed is admirable. Some are now suffering intimidation from hounders.
All sides might have criticisms of how the virtual public hearing process was handled, including our supporters who were concerned that a hounding and trapping lobbyist from Massachusetts was allowed to testify opposing all of the pro-wildlife bills. We had numerous people who registered to testify who were later told the speaking roster was full. However, at the end of the day, the current process allowed for greater participation because people were able to do so remotely.
Additionally, the Legislature took great care to make the process equitable. In fact, I fault the legislators for deferring too much to a constituency that has been unfairly critical and has engaged in spreading misinformation. Even worse are the personal attacks, including sharing distasteful posters on social media mocking a senator who has been a courageous leader in advancing wildlife protection efforts.
A Vermont hounding and trapping supporter created a poster of me, a volunteer who runs a grassroots nonprofit, using my photo, labeling me as an “invasive species.” This poster, the epitome of nativism, has been circulated on Facebook. The fact that I wasn’t born in Vermont reduces me to a zebra mussel, I guess.
Hounding and the use of leghold traps on our public lands impacts all Vermonters and diminishes people’s quality of life and places us and our pets at risk. These are “recreational” activities that are enjoyed by a privileged few.
Vermont’s wildlife, by law, is considered held in the public trust. For too long, too many of us have felt helpless when faced with environmentally toxic and cruel practices that have persisted under a good ol’ boys club way of doing business.
Vermonters from Bloomfield to Brattleboro, driving Broncos to BWMs, are ready for change and won’t be stymied by attempts to divide us. Like the zebra mussel I am, I will cling on to the hope that change is coming.
