This commentary is by Pamela Krausz, a resident of Brookfield.
The first time I testified before a committee at the Vermont Statehouse was in 1993. I testified and attended many hearings since then, but had not been to any in-person hearings since the pandemic.
I returned to the Statehouse on Friday, April 7, 2023, for a hearing on trapping. The hearing was about best management practices for trapping. The hearing began at 1 p.m. and two representatives for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department spoke for an hour.
When Protect Our Wildlife testified, challenging the trapping best management practices touted by Fish & Wildlife, three members of the committee walked out after about 15 minutes. This exodus occurred just as Protect Our Wildlife began to show a video of a trapped coyote struggling and suffering in the very type of trap that Fish & Wildlife is touting as a humane “best management practice” trap.
I heard Rep. Brian Smith, R-Derby, state loudly that he was “not going to listen to that propaganda.” Not only did Smith walk out, but Vice Chair Laura Sibilia, I-West Dover, and Rep. Paul Clifford, R-Rutland, also walked out.
Smith called the video “propaganda,” but how does he know? He didn’t watch it. And how can legislators determine if best management practices are good or bad when they refuse to even listen to testimony? Aren’t legislators expected to listen to all testimony and exhibit a modicum of objectivity and common decency?
Equally disconcerting, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department used most of its time to extol the benefits of trapping and was later chastised by Rep. Larry Satcowitz, D-Randolph, as to why it did not stick to the agenda.
For a governmental agency that is statutorily required to represent all Vermonters, Fish & Wildlife’s testimony seemed like a very slanted presentation. Agency officials attacked and belittled those with opposing views, saying they were misinformed and making misleading statements even as they purported a desire to work together and compromise.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s presentation on trapping did not show one video or photo of a trapped animal, yet agency officials are quick to call actual videos and photos presented by others misleading. Photos and videos of live animals caught in steel-jaw leghold and body-crushing kill traps make it more difficult to sell the practice of trapping to the general public. Seeing animals suffer nullifies the ludicrous claim that they are not experiencing pain and distress.
Vermonters deserve better from our elected officials and state agencies. We should not settle for those who outright refuse to listen to views different from their own.
