This commentary is by Dan Galdenzi, a resident of Stowe.
Change happens slowly, sometimes painfully so, but it always happens. I take great solace in that truth because it allows society to learn from our mistakes and to, hopefully, do better. Better for ourselves, for the environment, for the planet and its inhabitants.
These changes are often small, however, and it’s hard to know how important they are when they first happen. One such change has just occurred in Vermont. The director of wildlife at the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department announced his retirement.
For most people, this is an insignificant event. But for the welfare of wildlife, the future of the department, and one of the biggest obstacles for the health and progress for our state’s biodiversity, it is a very big moment. He represented a Fish & Wildlife Department of the past — one in desperate need of change, stuck firmly in a world that no longer exists.
Whether or not the commissioner of Fish & Wildlife can rise to the occasion and hire someone who will represent the majority of Vermonters, and not pander to privileged special interest groups, is yet to be seen. He does not have a good track record, to be sure, but we must cling to hope amid their deep institutional bias.
With the undeniable onslaught of climate change and the collapse of biodiversity, Vermonters want to see ”true” conservation and a focus on protecting wildlife instead of seeing them only as commodities to be taken for recreation. Public sentiment, including the views of ethical hunters, are nearly universally against the most pervasive forms of killing wildlife in Vermont: wildlife killing contests, trophy hunting, trapping, and hounding. Survey after survey proves this out with empirical data.
For just one eye-opening example, a survey done by UVM Center for Rural Studies shows that 75% of Vermonters want to ban leghold, drowning and body-gripping kill traps. Yet, the Fish & Wildlife Department and the now-parting director have wasted countless hours and tax dollars fighting to keep trapping alive in Vermont for fewer than 700 people who partake in this antiquated and barbaric recreation.
A recent public attitudes survey done by Colorado State University reveals that the largest segment of Vermonters identify as mutualists — meaning that they seek coexistence with and believe wildlife has intrinsic value. A lesser and shrinking group of Vermonters identified as traditionalist — meaning those who see wildlife as objects for the taking. The latter is how the outgoing director of Fish & Wildlife views the world.
Vermont, as we know all too well, is a tourist destination for much of the country, and our brand is being smeared from within by allowing some of the most cruel and destructive forms of killing to exist. People come here to view wildlife, hike, bike, ski, kayak, take photographs, and to frankly get away from the dominion of mankind over all things, only to find that it exists here too, and in spades.
At a recent Fish and Wildlife Board meeting, a concerned citizen presented a petition that would prevent the hunting and killing of a mother bear that was visually with her cubs. A no-brainer, of course, but the director said aloud, “I suggest we deny this petition; there are plenty of bears out there.” This is why it is a critical moment for the department to move forward and step outside of its 1950s hermetically sealed bubble.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Right now, the Fish & Wildlife Department has a chance to honor that belief and hire someone who embraces facts and has vision for the future. Not another crony with their head in the sand, who only cares to cling to the past.
