This commentary is by Lisa Jablow of Brattleboro, a board member of Protect Our Wildlife.
Any proposed legislation seeking to afford better protections for wild animals is forced to run a hellish gauntlet of opposition from sportsmen’s lobbyists and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board, but that has not deterred wildlife advocates, who have shown tremendous resiliency and commitment.
In the 2022 legislative session, there were significant bills that promised some substantial gains for wildlife. Two bills, one that would have banned leghold traps, and the other, aimed at doing away with coyote hounding, which has been compared to legalized dogfighting, entered a sort of purgatory. The bills passed, but Acts 159 (trapping) and 165 (coyote hounding) emerged with severely weakened language, ultimately requiring Vermont Fish & Wildlife to address various animal welfare and other concerns specific to these two activities.
What this meant was that the proponents of trapping and hounding, represented by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board, and wildlife advocates gathered in “working groups” over a number of months to try to reach some compromise that would be at least minimally acceptable to both sides. It came as no surprise to anyone that even the initial appearance of collaboration on the part of Fish & Wildlife soon fell away.
The fact is there is no way to make trapping humane and to protect nontargeted animals, including people’s pets. A large part of the discussion around Act 159 centered on the components of leghold traps and the location of traps on our public lands — all falling under the heading of trapping “Best Management Practices.” Instead of recognizing this as their last chance to save the future of trapping, Fish & Wildlife, and the trappers they support, fought wildlife advocates at every turn.
As the discussions developed, Fish & Wildlife’s disingenuous nod to collaboration dissolved, and negligible progress was made. Wildlife advocates put forth a simple recommendation in an effort to compromise: Prohibit body-crushing kill traps on land to reduce injuring and killing nontargeted animals, including people’s pets. At least two dogs — that we know of — were killed last trapping season in traps set for wildlife. Fish & Wildlife could not even accommodate this basic request. It was an exercise in frustration and futility and a massive waste of government resources.
Act 165, dealing with coyote hounding, fared no better. First, there’s the issue of control of hounds. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board refuse to accept that a pack of hounds not within sight or sound of a hunter is not under control.
The Fish & Wildlife Department’s big concession was to reduce the pack size from six to four hounds. For a lone coyote being terrorized through the woods, those odds are still grim. Yet, some Fish & Wildlife Board members are continuing to fight this and attempting to bump it back up to six.
And now, in addition to a hound hunting season, we have an official “training” season. This is supposed to give the appearance of responsible behavior — but in reality, it’s just “Hunting Season Lite.” When a pack of unattended (the hunters are often miles away) hounds “in training” corners a coyote, the hounds somehow know that they’re not supposed to attack and injure the coyote?
At least during the official hunting season, when the hunters eventually catch up to their hounds, which could be quite a while depending on the terrain and how far away they are, they can legally kill a mortally wounded coyote.
Wildlife advocates put forth other reasonable recommendations: limit the hounds to one per hunter, and also prohibit the baiting of coyotes. These, too, were overruled by hounders and the Fish & Wildlife Department and Board that do their bidding. So, as things currently stand, coyotes don’t have a chance. They remain outnumbered and outgunned — the exact opposite of fair chase hunting.
After participating in the recent public hearings on these recommendations and viewing the July Fish & Wildlife Board meeting, it is clearer than ever that both the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board have no desire to improve animal welfare. The callousness with which they speak of sentient, living, feeling animals is of great concern.
One of the board members suggested codifying “bludgeoning” as a legal method of killing trapped animals and removing the word “humane” before killing. This recommendation is diametrically opposed to the legislative mandate that requires the humane killing of trapped animals.
I hope the Legislature can finally see the absurdity of expecting that Fish & Wildlife will collaborate in good faith with wildlife advocates. We ask the Legislature to stop deferring to Fish & Wildlife on these matters because they’ve shown us time and time again who they are.
If it wasn’t before, it is now crystal clear that only through the Legislature passing humane laws will we see any meaningful change.
