On January 15, 2023 the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife (VTFW) will report to the state Legislature on their progress to establish “best management practices that modernize trapping” and improve the welfare of wildlife taken with the use of traps. According th VTFW’s website, the process to establish these improvements was initiated June 1, 2022, and a first set of draft recommended regulation changes became available on November 22, 2022. (see below)

In partnership with the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, a pro-trapping organization that promotes best management practices in trapping through ongoing animal research on new and existing lethal traps, VTFW is proposing recommendations that would encourage the use of traps in Vermont that still take up to five minutes to kill, beavers, otters, fishers, mink and sometimes pets.

A BEAVER CAUGHT IN A BODY-GRIPPING TRAP FOR 65 SECONDS… VTFW RECOMMENDED “BMP” HUMANE TRAPS ALLOW FOR UP TO 300 SECONDS FOR AN ANIMAL TO DIE: 

“Body-gripping” styles of traps currently used in Vermont would still be allowed under VTFW’s proposed recommendations. According the AFWA’s furbearer specialist during a public presentation in South Royalton in November 2022, an improved humane lethal trap must be able to kill its victim within 300 seconds during 70% of the controlled animal tests conducted at a fur industry supported lab in Alberta, Canada. 

“Body-gripping” styles of traps currently used in Vermont would still be allowed under VTFW’s draft proposed recommendations. According the AFWA’s furbearer specialist during a public presentation in South Royalton in November 2022, an improved humane lethal trap must be able to kill its victim within 300 seconds during 70% of the controlled animal tests conducted at a fur industry supported lab in Alberta, Canada. 

According to a principal researchers conducting those controlled experiments, if a trapped animal shows signs of life after 5 minutes of being crushed in a body-gripping trap, it is euthanized. Anything less than five minutes means the trap adheres to AFWA & VTFW’s improved animal welfare standards.

VFWD Trapping BMP Draft Recommendations and Stakeholder Recommendation Synopsies

Modern trapping practices in use in Vermont include the use of body-gripping traps that take minutes to kill their victims. VTFW’s proposal is that these traps simply be placed 50 feet off of marked trails. Regardless of where they are placed, they will continue to cause unspeakable suffering to ecologically important wildlife and even Vermonters beloved dogs.

Vermont Wolf Patrol believes 5 minutes is too long for any animal to suffer in a trap in Vermont. 

Act 159 requires by law that VTFW “work with the Legislature and the Fish and Wildlife Board to establish best management practices that modernize trapping and improve the welfare of wildlife taken with the use of traps.” We do not believe VTFW’s current proposed draft recommendations to trapping in Vermont accomplished that at all. Any establishment of best management practices for trapping in Vermont should not include body-gripping traps or support for research into whether they can kill within 5 minutes.

Please contact the Chair of the Senate Natural Resources Committee and Vermont Fish & Wildlife and let them know you do not support the current proposed recommendations to improve trapping in the state unless they exclude the use of body-gripping traps.

To send comments to Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Christopher Bray please email: cbray@leg.state.vt.us

To send VFWD comments, please email: ANR.FWPublicComment@vermont.gov  subject line “BMP Trapping Recommendations.”

On January 21, 2022 Vermont’s Agency of Transportation, (VTrans) signed a contract with two trappers to kill beavers and other wildlife that damage or threaten culverts and roads across Vermont. VTrans is the public agency responsible for the maintenance of a statewide transportation network that includes bridges and highways and like all Vermonters, we all grateful to them for that. Unfortunately, the agency also employs trappers who use cruel body-gripping and foothold traps that are meant to either drown or kill their victims in ways that often last for minutes.

In October 2022, one of the two VTrans contracted trappers was dispatched to place traps for beaver outside of Orange, Vermont where beavers have sometimes blocked culverts under state highway 302. Landowners and caretakers for the land who were on site alerted VTrans employees present that the private property was posted closed to trapping, but were later told by both VTrans and Vermont Fish & Wildlife (VTFW) wardens that a right of way purchased in 1967 allowed VTrans to trap up to 50 feet off of the highway.

A public records request was made by Vermont Wolf Patrol that identified the trappers hired by VTrans and additional investigating uncovered two incidents involving the trapper that were investigated by wardens in the last year, one resulting in a citation and fine.

On January 25, 2022 a VTFWD warden was alerted to an incident outside of Troy, Vermont involving a fisher that was found by a snowmobiler with a trap on its face. The wardens report details the incident when the individual first saw the fisher walking with the trap stuck to his face, saying they were able to pick up the animal. After being unable to contact VTFWD wardens, the individual shot the fisher because they believed it to be suffering. The warden later reported that the fishers injuries were not survivable.

The warden’s January 2022 report.

In May, the same VTrans trapper reported to VTFWD that they had trapped a river otter out of season in a culvert trap set for nuisance beaver outside of Jay, Vermont. Such instances when a non-target animal is caught in a trap are referred to as “incidental catches” and are allowable by law. Body-gripping traps such as those used by VTrans trappers are also responsible for killing at least two Vermont pets in 2022 according to VTFWD law enforcement.

Vermont Wolf Patrol is asking VTrans to observe a moratorium on the use of body-gripping and foot-hold traps until better management practices can be put in place that include the use of nonlethal deterrents such as beaver “deceivers” and baffles. We believe that the use of traps that take up to five minutes to kill their victims is not the solution to any wildlife conflict in Vermont.

Please contact Vermont’s Secretary of Transportation and let him know you do not support the use of cruel and inhumane traps in Vermont!

Secretary of Transportation
Joe Flynn
802-476-2690
joe.flynn@vermont.gov
219 N. Main Street, Barre, VT 05641

Last year, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (VFWD) contracted with a leading natural resource survey firm, Responsive Management, to conduct a survey of Vermont residents’ knowledge and opinions of the department and their current furbearer conservation efforts. On November 29, 2022 VFWD received the final telephone survey report, which was conducted in October. VFWD staff says they will be analyzing the results from this science-based research project for many months to come and that the findings will be, “used to inform VFWD current and future furbearer management and outreach efforts.”

VFWD’s key takeaways from the survey include the claim that the majority of Vermonters support regulated trapping. But when those same Vermonters were asked whether they supported trapping for fur for clothing, recreation or “to make money” the majority in all three categories opposed the practice with as high as 73% of those surveyed saying they opposed trapping for recreation.

Another takeaway from the survey revealed that when asked about furbearer species in their area, over 70% of Vermonters said they enjoyed the presence of wildlife and when asked about population numbers being too high, too low or “about right,” the majority chose about right.

In questioning how Vermonters spend their time outdoors, 69% said they enjoyed hiking and using trails while only 4% said they trapped. This might explain why 13 companion animals were caught in traps set for wildlife in 2022. At least two died.

This survey leaves Vermont Wolf Patrol wondering. Why is the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department spending so much money and time trying to convince us that trapping in still an accepted practice? Current reforms (which would only be recommendations) would ask that trappers use only “best management practices” traps that have been proven in a laboratory setting to kill an animal within five minutes. We believe the vast majority of Vermonters are against such animal cruelty whether its for tradition, for profit or fun.

Join Vermont Wolf Patrol in asking our elected representatives to introduce and support legislation which would ban trapping for fun and profit. Currently, a Vermont Fur Buyers License allows all licensed Vermont trappers to sell their trapped pelts on the international fur markets where the largest buyers are Russia and China.

For centuries, trappers in Vermont have participated in the international fur trade through the sale of trapped animals such as beaver and fisher (both species were historically wiped out in the state after centuries of unregulated trapping) Nowadays, a licensed trapper will be lucky to get $20 for a beaver pelt. Today’s fur market pays less than $10 for a coyote or fox pelt. Trappers contend they help manage “furbearer” populations, but most of today’s recreational and for profit trapper will only trap what they can sell.

We recognize that trapping might have once played an integral part in Vermont’s history, but today, many Vermonters believe the native animals that have been trapped and sold for hundreds of years, are far more ecologically valuable alive than as a few bucks in a trappers pocket.

Legislation ending recreational and for profit trapping would hardly have an impact on Vermont trappers. According to another Responsive Management survey and reported by the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies in their conservation brief, “Regulated Trapping and the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation” regulated fur trapping generates very little money for the individual trapper (~$1,700/year) and in fact 80% of trappers surveyed say, “the income is not at all important.”

Vermonters! Please contact your elected officials and let them know you support a ban on recreational and for profit trapping.

legislature.vermont.gov/people/

Don’t forget! You can also let VTFWD know that allowing an animal up to five minutes to die in a Vermont trap does not make it humane!

ANR.FWPublicComment@vermont.gov  with the subject line “BMP Trapping Recommendations.”

In June 2022, Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed into law Act 159 which requires the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to work with the Legislature and the Fish and Wildlife Board to establish best management practices that modernize trapping and improve the welfare of wildlife taken with the use of traps in Vermont. The process to establish these best management practices was initiated in June 2022, and a first draft of recommended regulation changes became available on November 22, 2022 (below)

According to the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), In the past several decades, state and provincial wildlife agencies in the U.S. and Canada have spent over $40 million on trap research and promotion of humane trapping methods. In the U.S., this program is known as Best Management Practices (BMPs) for Trapping in the United States.  

The current Act 159 draft recommendations to improve trapping are based on “peer reviewed national scientific research” and stakeholder feedback gathered in 2022. A public meeting was held in South Royalton on November 29, 2022 to solicit more public feedback and a report to the Legislature is due January 15, 2023.  The department will begin the actual rule making process with the Fish and Wildlife Board in February or March 2023.

From VTF&W’s November 2022 draft trapping recommendations:

“Objective: To improve trapping and trapping systems for animal welfare, selectivity, and safety in accordance with the findings of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies’ (AFWA) decades-long scientific research effort into the Best Management Practices (BMPs) for trapping.“

At the Royalton meeting, presentations were made by representatives of the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, the organization that promotes best management practices in trapping that include lethal research on animals like beavers, pine martens and fishers. In the presentation, Bryant White, AFWA’s Trapping Policy Program Manager broke down the methods used to determine the killing efficiency of traps including those currently used in Vermont. He said the goal of their lethal research is to kill the research animals used in the experimental traps as quickly as possible, with an acceptable level of 300 seconds (five minutes.) White also stated that they must conduct these experiments on at least 20 individuals of each species for which traps are being evaluated and that most times the sample group is larger. Because the AFWA animal welfare perimeters are too difficult to measure in the field, White said the trap tests must be conducted in a laboratory setting.

A quote from AFWA’s introduction to trapping BMPs:

“We are indebted to the Fur Institute of Canada (FIC) for providing valuable information on the animal welfare of furbearers captured in bodygrip traps and the mechanical attributes of both bodygrip and foothold traps. Their research has provided the information needed for inclusion of many important trapping devices in the respective BMPs and would have been practically impossible to obtain otherwise.“

The Fur Institute of Canada (website: fur.ca) is a fur industry organization whose mission is to improve the image of trapping. Their website is full of articles attacking the animal rights group, PETA and opposition to the promotion of a vegan diet and lifestyle. FIC contracts with the provincial government research agency, Innotech Alberta to conduct its trap experiments. Here is what the Fur Institute of Canada has to say about its VTF&W Department supported research program in Canada:

“The Institute’s Vegreville Alberta research facility was completed in 1984 at a cost of over $l million. It was specifically designed to enable teams of scientists, engineers, statisticians and technicians to scientifically measure and improve the welfare of animals related to trapping and to advance trap testing methods. All animals housed in the research facility for the testing of traps are cared for and used in accordance with the requirements of the Canadian Council on Animal Care that oversees the use of animals in research and testing...The Institute’s program places Canada as the world leader in trap research.“

According to FIC, advancements in computer simulation models have led to 90% of the trap research they do at the Vegreville facility to be with computer simulations, yet they admit that models have only been developed for a few of the many species they conduct trap research on. BMPs currently exist for all North American furbearer species except for wolverine, that testing is in progress according to AFWA.

At the Royalton presentation, a VTF&W furbearer biologist stated that some of the data for trap research was recently gathered in the field by Vermont trappers. Developing BMPs for trapping is an ongoing project as research is required as new models of traps are developed. Each new trap will undergo field testing before it is taken to the laboratory. The development of computer models and field testing of new traps does not eliminate the need for live animal laboratory testing during the final stages of trap research according to AFWA.

Not much information is available on the lethal trap research used to establish BMP standards, but this is what we know of past experiments. Between 1985 and 1998, over 170 lethal trap tests were conducted on raccoon, marten and fisher by the “Trap Effectiveness Project” at the Vegreville facility led by Neal Jotham. Below is his breakdown of the trap experiments:

“Phase I: Furbearers that are acclimated to their new surroundings are monitored remotely by state-of-the-art night television cameras as they approach selected traps and trap sets.

Phase II: The traps at this stage fire when triggered by the animal but the killing bar is wired to move only a short distance without striking. Later observations of slow motion video by the researchers can allow them to project where the bar would most likely have struck the animal’s body. These observations can be used to evaluate the trap design, thereby capitalizing on the behaviour of the animal as it approaches the trap.

Phase III: When a stipulated number of animal/trap approaches are deemed to have resulted in a successful strike, the trap is moved to pre-selection where the same animals are anaesthetized and placed in the exact position they were in during the approach phase. The trap is then remotely triggered to strike them. Under the anaesthetic, an animal can feel no pain but its eye reflex can still be monitored to determine consciousness. The eye reflex is monitored for up to five minutes and if it exists at that point, the animal is humanely euthanized (killed).

This Phase of the program informs the researchers whether the mechanical forces in the particular trap are likely to be strong enough to kill the specific animal within three minutes before proceeding to the kill/test with unanesthetized animals. Should the trap not render the stipulated number of animals unconscious within the three-minute test time parameter, it may be re-evaluated for possible engineering improvements and resubmitted to the pre-selection phase.

Phase IV: When a trap successfully passes Phase III, it is then set in the compound as it would be on the trapline for kill-test. Once again, a stipulated number of animals (this time unanaesthestized) must be successfully killed during this phase. Failure at this stage sends the trap back for further evaluation and possible modification. If successful during the first four phases, which are considered the screening phases, the trap is ready for performance confirmation (Phase V), where further kill-tests are carried out to raise the statistical level of confidence that the animals on the trapline will be killed humanely.”

From the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, Nova Scotia, Canada:

https://novascotia.ca/natr/wildlife/conserva/humane-trapping2.asp

Vermont Wolf Patrol is opposed to the use of live animals in research to determine the humaneness of traps designed to kill wildlife and other animals. Inflicting pain and suffering on one animal to hopefully minimize suffering of others is not what the citizens of Vermont wanted when we voiced our support for Senate bill 201 which when introduced was a proposed ban on trapping in the state. Organizations like the Fur Institute of Canada and the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies were created in part to dissuade any limit or ban on trapping with research that would convince us that it is necessary and humane.

According to VTF&W law enforcement, 13 pets were caught in traps set for furbearers in 2022, causing at least two deaths. We are asking citizens and visitors of the state to contact their elected officials and the VTF&W department to let them know you do not support the research being conducted on live animals to improve trapping standards. No amount of money and no amount of research will ever change the fact that lethal traps are cruel and inhumane to pets and wildlife.

VT F&W’s DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS RELATED TO TRAPPING BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES:

PLEASE REMEMBER!!! Vermont Fish & Wildlife will begin the rule making process for these recommendations with the Fish and Wildlife Board in February or March 2023. The Board will host another public meeting as part of that process. If you would like to send comments at any point in this process, please email: ANR.FWPublicComment@vermont.gov with the subject line “BMP Trapping Recommendations.”

Started in 2014 to oppose Wisconsin’s hound hunt for wolves, Wolf Patrol is now launching a new chapter in Vermont to fight against hound hunting and trapping abuses and for the return of extirpated wildlife such as the gray wolf, Canada lynx and catamount. The organization first gained notoriety for its monitoring of controversial yet legal hunting practices in Wisconsin such as hound hunting of wolves, bear baiting and wildlife killing contests.

Last winter in February 2022, Wolf Patrol began investigating hound hunting for coyotes in Vermont after being contacted by rural residents experiencing conflict with hound hunters. Wolf Patrol has documented and exposed coyote hound hunting abuses for years in other states and are responsible for criminal investigations against hound hunters in Wisconsin. We provided written and video testimony against hound hunting of coyotes and documented illegal and unethical practices occurring in Vermont.

On June 2, 2022 Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed a bill into law limiting coyote hunting with hounds. It is now up to the state’s Fish & Wildlife Board to establish rules for coyote hunting with hounds. Wolf Patrol will continue monitoring coyote hound hunting areas this winter in Vermont which is currently observing a moratorium on coyote hunting with hounds until rules are established.

Wolf Patrol will also support a campaign in Vermont against the commercial sale of wildlife, which is allowable under most states trapping rules. We believe the commercial North American fur industry to be culpable for the extirpation and extinction of numerous species across not only New England, but all of North America. Equally, Wolf Patrol believes that animals that have been commercially trapped for the last four centuries like the beaver, deserve recognition and protection for their contributions in our ongoing fight against climate change.

https://vtdigger.org/2022/12/28/animal-advocates-renew-calls-for-trapping-restrictions-after-dog-dies-in-east-corinth/: Vermont Wolf Patrol to Oppose Trapping & Hound Hunting Abuses in the Green Mountain State

Wolf Patrol will not only focus on opposing practices which abuse and monetize wildlife in Vermont. More importantly, we want to envision and support projects that help return extirpated native wildlife to their rightful place in the Green Mountain State. We support the natural recolonization of wolves from Canada to Vermont. It’s probably already happened. The return of wolves and other native predators would help restore ecological imbalances such as providing natural predation on species like beavers.

Wolf Patrol is a collective of individuals who also support the struggles in Vermont against the abuse of members of the nonbinary/trans gender, refugee and migrant communities. We also believe in creating safe space for all people to exchange ideas and opinions on how to help Vermont wildlife. We recognize all Abenaki claims to this place we call Vermont and support all indigenous struggles for survival and sovereignty.

Wolf Patrol will be meeting the second Wednesday of each month in Montpelier, Vermont at a location and time to be announced. First meeting to be held on January 11, 2023 at 6:00pm Location: TBA

See the documentary:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14906656/

Watch Wolf Patrol’s videos on YouTube:

youtube.com/@wolfpatrol41

wolfpatrol.org

Facebook: Vermont Wolf Patrol

teamwolfpatrol@gmail.com

(802) 365-1446

In August 2022, Wolf Patrol returned to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF) to again document how Wisconsin’s lenient bear baiting and hound training regulations continue to be the cause behind multiple bear hound depredations by wolves each year. Long before bear hunting season begins, Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) allows a two-month bear hound training season that begins July 1st and runs until the end of August.

So far this year, nine bear hounds have been killed by wolves in heavily bear baited areas of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and other public lands in northern Wisconsin. In early August 2022, Wolf Patrol investigated multiple bear hound depredations that had occurred in Forest, Oconto and Bayfield counties. In all of the national forest areas where depredations occurred, Wolf Patrol documented multiple active bear bait sites.

WDNR regulations do not require that bait sites be registered, no license is required and hunters can construct as many bear bait sites on public lands as they desire. In each, baiters are allowed to dump up to 10 gallons of human food waste, grease and chocolate, which is toxic to bears, wolves and other canines. Over the last eight years, Wolf Patrol has documented chronic bear baiting occurring in WDNR “Wolf Caution Areas” which are designated 4-mile radius areas surrounding the location of a bear hound depredation.

These unlimited wildlife feeding stations are literally attracting the wolf’s natural prey like deer, as well as serving as a food source for wolves. The WDNR estimates that as much as 4 million gallons of bear bait is dumped in our national forests and other public lands in Wisconsin each annually. Wisconsin’s bear baiting season begins in April and runs seven months until October. Hound hunters in Wisconsin use multiple bear baits to attract bears that their dogs can later track, chase and tree.

Due to the lack of regulation on bear baiting in Wisconsin, a recent WDNR study concluded that 40% of a black bear’s diet in Wisconsin’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is comprised of bear bait provided by hunters. In addition, when a wolf kills a bear hound in Wisconsin, the hound hunter is compensated $2,500 for their loss, even if the hunter has already been compensated for a hound killed in the very same Wolf Caution Area.

Over the last seven years, Wolf Patrol’s members and many other concerned residents have also introduced numerous citizen resolutions to Wisconsin’s Conservation Congress (WCC) to reduce or limit bear baiting and hound training. Every one of these resolutions supported by WCC voters has been rejected by the WCC Bear Committee whose stated purpose is the increase of bear hunting opportunities in Wisconsin.

Feeding the bears in Wisconsin is not only killing bears, its killing bear hounds and even wolves, which have become the target for poisoning and illegal killing in recent years due to the increase in wolf numbers and their attacks on bear hounds. All for a minority of hunters who like to run down bears with dogs so they can be shot out of a tree. In October 2021, A federal judge returned Wisconsin’s wolves to federal protections after a disastrous court-ordered recreational wolf hunt wiped out a third of the state’s wolf population.

Yet, as long as unlimited bear baiting is allowed in Wisconsin, wolf attacks on bear hounds will continue as will hound hunters illegal killing and poisoning of the federally protected wolves responsible. WDNR’s bear baiting and hound training practices are the number one cause of deadly conflicts between wolves and humans in Wisconsin, and both should not be allowed on our national forests where they are altering the natural behavior of bears, wolves, deer and other wildlife.

For now, bear baiting continues to be a big business in Wisconsin, with local bait dealers selling semi-truck loads of expired human food waste to hunters by the 55-gallon barrel. And chocolate isn’t the only ingredient in bear bait that is toxic to wildlife, but Xylitol is another ingredient found in bait items like peanut butter, which is regularly used as bear bait in Wisconsin. Its shameful!

Join Wolf Patrol in calling for WDNR and U.S. Forest Service officials to get a backbone and end the intentional feeding of wildlife in our national forests by bear hunters. Its a no-brainer. Feeding wildlife in unlimited bait sites on public lands is creating a nightmare for wildlife and is harming federally protected gray wolves. Hey Wisconsin, stop feeding the bears!

You can email Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest officials at:

sm.fs.cnnfadmin@usda.gov

Wolf Patrol is partnering with FLOAT (For Love of All Things) to offer t-shirts and hoodies until August 1, 2022. A portion of each shirt sale ($8) will be donated to Wolf Patrol and will go towards monitoring the continuing conflicts between Wisconsin bear hunters and wolves in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Please visit the link below to see the many shirt styles and colors available!

float.org/collections/wolf-patrol

What began as a proposed bill that would ban outright the hunting of coyotes with hounds in Vermont, has instead become proposed legislation that would simply limit the number of hound hunters to 100 and require Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department (VFWD) to establish regulations on the winter time activity. In recent years, conflicts between hound hunters, landowners and people and their pets have increased in Vermont, which lead to state legislators introducing S.281 in February 2022. The bill is currently under review by both the house and senate and is expected to be voted on soon.

The original bill had received broad public support, after numerous incidents came to light involving animal cruelty and trespass on the part of Vermont’s coyote hound hunters across the state. Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department saw the direction legislators were taking, and quickly proposed changes that would still allow coyote hunting with hounds, only require a permit and establish rules. Because of the fear of a total ban on coyote hunting with hounds, VFWD has now promised to address this crisis for wildlife and people in Vermont but their reccomendations do not go far enough to prevent trespass or cruelty occurring out of sight of the dog’s handler or owner.

The amended version of S.281 would still require landowners to post their lands and inform hound hunters that they are not welcomed. Those allowed would be required to have written permission. Un posted or “unenclosed” private lands would not require written permission. The bill would also leave it up to Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Board to determine a definition of “control” a hunter must have over their hounds. Most hound trespassing occurs when dog(s) pursue a coyote, bear or bobcat where hounds are allowed onto or through lands where they are not. GPS collars used on coyote and bear hunting hounds allow remote monitoring from miles away, but not control. Most of the fighting that occurs between hounds and coyotes happens out of sight of the dog handlers who are often sitting in their trucks during coyote hunts with handheld GPS monitoring devices that tell them when their hounds have a coyote cornered or “at bay”.

S.281 still has to make it through the full Senate, House and Governor’s office before it reaches the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board for a rule making process where definitions of control and method of take will be determined. Board members are appointed by the Governor to six-year terms and the board has recently been criticized for being controlled by and composed of hunters, trappers and those unwilling to listen to the majority of Vermonters opposed to coyote hunting with hounds. (Another bill, S.129 that would have addressed this misrepresentation of the citizens of Vermont has evolved into a letter to the Commissioner of Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department.)

The spirit and original intent of S.281 has been changed by VFWD’s amendments which would still allow free roaming coyote hounds to cross onto posted and unposted lands where they are not welcomed. The amendments allow such trespass to occur, only establishing penalties for it and making it the responsibility of landowners to notify coyote hound hunters that they are not welcome. Maintaining control over hunting hounds must remain the foundation of S.281. Loose hounds are not a constitutional right!

As currently proposed, S.281 would also still permit up to 100 coyote hound hunters using free roaming dogs during winter. Each permitted license holder would still be allowed to be assisted by other hound hunters working in tandem from vehicles and snowmobiles. This means that the allowance of 100 permits would in fact still authorize hundreds more hunters to assist the individual permitted coyote hunter. There is no data on the number of coyote hound hunters in Vermont, but 100 is simply an unmanageable number given the current limits on the ability of VFWD law enforcement to monitor this activity in the entire state of Vermont with only 31 wardens. On March 13, 2022 a Addison County landowner that has frequently dealt with coyote hunters trespassing with their hounds, called his region’s VFWD warden to request assistance when the group again returned. The warden responded that he was unavailable and over an hour away.

Current Senate bill 281 with VFWD amendments…

While this bill is certainly a good first step in preventing coyote hunters with hounds from trespassing on private property, it still does not adequately address the cruelty caused when even one hunting hound is allowed to chase to exhaustion another dog, making the animal more susceptible to attack and mauling, as has been documented occurring within the state of Vermont in recent years. There’s still time! Vermont residents can still contact their representatives and ask that changes to S.281 be made before it is signed into law.

Proposed changes to S.281 for Vermont residents to ask their representatives to request:

A reduction in the number of permits allowed from 100 to 31, which better reflects the actual number of VTF&W conservation officers (wardens) available to patrol coyote hunting with hounds in the state of Vermont.

A definition of “control” that does not exclusively require GPS/shock/tone collars which still allow hounds to be far away and out of the sight of their handlers.

A person shall not release a dog onto land, whether the land is posted or not posted, for the purpose of pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs unless the dog owner or the handler of the hunting dog has obtained a courtesy permission card from the landowner or landowner’s agent allowing the pursuit of coyote with the aid of dogs on the lands.

A limit on the number of dogs that may be used to pursue coyote that shall not exceed two dogs and a prohibition on the substitution of any new dog for another dog during pursuit of a coyote.

The legal method of taking coyote pursued with the aid of dogs limited to rifle, muzzleloader, crossbow, or bow and arrow and penalties for any instance in which a dog mauls or otherwise injures a coyote.

Required identification on every dog that is readable from a distance of at least 50 feet and that will allow a landowner to identify the owner or handler of the dog.

Required reporting of every coyote killed during pursuit with the aid of dogs.

A prohibition on the use of bait.

Vermont’s House Committee on Natural Resources, Fish, and Wildlife will be reviewing S.281 March 30, 2022. Please email members:

asheldon@leg.state.vt.us,

plefebvre@leg.state.vt.us,

sbongartz@leg.state.vt.us

kdolan@leg.state.vt.us,

jmccullough@leg.state.vt.us,

lmorgan@leg.state.vt.us,

nbrownell@leg.state.vt.us

hsmith@leg.state.vt.us,

kmorris2@leg.state.vt.us

lsatcowitz@leg.state.vt.us

To find your VT state Senator:

legislature.vermont.gov/people/

On March 13, 2022 the same party of Addison County coyote hound hunters responsible for trespassing private lands in recent weeks, were again out hunting and harassing private landowners outside the small farming town of Shoreham. This time a private landowner came out to investigate suspected trespass and immediately became the target of their harassment.

Vermont’s pending Senate bill 281 would regulate coyote hunting with hounds and authorize 100 permits to hound hunters wishing to hunt coyotes with free roaming hounds. It would also require landowners to notify hound hunters that they are unwelcome, and require landowners to report trespassing to notify law enforcement before any future action could be taken to limit the trespass of free roaming coyote hunting hounds.

Last week, officials with Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department (VFWD) testified to the Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee that the agency’s warden service could adequately monitor the proposed 100 coyote hound hunters that S.281 would allow. Yet, when landowners called their local VFWD warden on March 13, 2022 during the confrontation with Addison County hound hunters, the warden responded that “his hands were full” and he was an hour away in Rutland, VT and could not respond.

Wolf Patrol is asking opponents of the trespass and cruelty that is inherent with coyote hunting with hounds, to contact Vermont’s legislators and ask that S.281 be amended to reduce the number of hounding permits that would be allowed, from 100 to 31 which is the actual number of wardens responsible for patrolling Vermont’s mountainous and rural 14 counties.

CONTACT VERMONT LEGISLATORS:

To find your legislator:

legislature.vermont.gov/people/

Vermont’s Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee:

Senator Chris Bray cbray@leg.state.vt.us (802) 453-3444

Senator Rich Westman rawestman@gmail.com (802) 644-2297

Senator Mark MacDonald mmacdonald@leg.state.vt.us (802) 272-1101

Senator Brian Campion bcampion@leg.state.vt.us (802) 375-4376

Senator Richard McCormack rmccormack@leg.state.vt.us (802) 793-6417

What began as a proposed bill that would ban outright the hunting of coyotes with hounds in Vermont, has instead become proposed legislation that would limit the number of hunters and require Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department to establish regulations on the winter time activity. In recent years, conflicts between hound hunters and landowners and outdoor recreationists have increased in Vermont, leading to legislators introducing S.281 in February 2022.

S.281 as passed by Vermont’s Senate Natural Resources & Energy Committee on 03/11/22

The bill has received overwhelming public support, after numerous organizations including Wolf Patrol exposed multiple incidents involving cruelty on the part of Vermont’s hound hunters. Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Department saw the direction legislators were taking and quickly proposed changes that they have for years refused to implement. Only because of the fear of a total ban on coyote hunting with hounds, has the agency now promised to address this crisis for wildlife and people in Vermont.

The bill still has to go through a rule making process that is currently controlled by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board, which lacks representation from nonconsumptive wildlife users and is mostly comprised of hunters, trappers and those unwilling to listen to the majority of Vermonters opposed to coyote hunting with hounds. The bill must also be signed into law by Republican Governor Phil Scott.

Wolf Patrol believes the spirit of this bill has been changed by VTF&W’s amendments which would still allow free roaming coyote hounds to cross onto lands where they are not welcomed. The amendments allow such trespass to occur, only establishing penalties for it and making it the responsibility of landowners to notify coyote hound hunters that they are not welcome.

We also believe that 100 hound hunters using free roaming dogs to hunt coyotes during winter is simply an unmanageable number, given the current limits on the ability of VTF&W wardens to monitor this activity in the entire state of Vermont. Each permitted license holder would still be allowed to have assistance by other hound hunters working in tandem from vehicles and snowmobiles. This means that allowing 100 permits would actually still authorize hundreds more hunters to assist the individual licensed coyote hunter.

While this bill is a first step in preventing coyote hunters with hounds from trespassing on private property, it still does not adequately address the cruelty caused when even one hunting hound is allowed to chase to exhaustion another dog, making the animal more susceptible to attack and mauling, as has been documented occurring within the state of Vermont during the practice of coyote hunting with hounds.  

These are the changes to S.281 we are asking our supporters to ask their legislators to request VTF&W make when adopting new rules governing the hunting of coyotes with hounds:

1. A reduction in the number of permits allowed from 100 to 31, which reflects the number of actual VTF&W conservation officers (wardens) available to patrol coyote hunting with hounds in the state of Vermont.
2. A lottery system similar to that used for moose permits for the distribution of permits, not distibuted “at the discretion of the Commissioner” as the current language states.
3. A definition of “control” that does not only require GPS/shock/tone collars which still allow hounds to be out of the sight of their handlers.
4. A requirement that all coyote hunters using hounds obtain written permission from private landowners whether the lands are legally posted or not.
5. A limit on the number of dogs used to pursue coyote that is one and the adoption of the proposed prohibition on the substitution of any new dog for another dog during pursuit of coyote.
6. No baiting. This only encourages conflicts with coyotes rather than addressing them.