Category: News

No longer will it be legal for bear hunters or others in Vermont to legally sell any internal organs of black bears.

On the closing days of Vermont’s 2024 legislative session, wildlife advocates and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department worked together to recommend amendment language to an agricultural bill that would end the legal sale of black bear internal organs and paws. Both are the subject of an international illegal trade in black bear parts that is responsible for illegal bear killings in the United States, Canada and other countries. Senate Bill 301 which passed both the House and Senate on May 10, is now headed to Governor Phil Scott’s desk where he is expected to sign the bill into law.

S.301 language on the sale of bear parts.

In September 2023, Vermont Wildlife Patrol asked both the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board to address the continuing illegal trade in black bear parts that Vermont was contributing to through the legal sale of bear parts which is currently allowed in the state. VWP state Director Rod Coronado testified that, “It seems that states that allow the legal trade of bear gall bladders are accommodating the illegal trade by allowing those (illegally taken) gall bladders to come into the state to be sold.” VWP’s position was echoed by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s Chief Warden, Justin Stedman at the May 15, 2024 Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board meeting where he stated there were two active investigations into the illegal sale of bear parts in Vermont and that allowing the legal sale of bear parts was contributing to the sale of illegally taken gall bladders which could be brought into the state and legally sold.

Vermont will still allow the sale of taxidermied bears and bear meat within the state during a regulated season.

Vermont Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Christopher Herrick joined by District Chief Warden Lt. Robert Currier testified to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry that, “We’ve experienced paws being trafficked from the state of Vermont all the way down into Boston and Chinatown, and then we have information that they’re ultimately ending up being shipped to the Asian market overseas. A serving of bear paw soup has been reported to be sold for up to $1,000…just one serving of this soup. You can imagine the amount of money that is being transferred and made off of the natural resources of our state…we are one of the very few states in the country that allows for the sale of these items.” Warden Currier further testified that wildlife traffickers are coming into Vermont to legally buy black bear gall bladders and paws and then illegally ship them out of state where they enter the illicit trade that has decimated black bear populations outside of North America. Vermont’s Deputy Chief Counsel, Michael O’Grady testified that, “Vermont is one of the last (states) to have this provision so it’s kind of a harbor for people who do this kind of activity.”

Illegally taken black bear paws seized by Quebec authorities in 2018. S.301 prohibits the sale of internal organs and bear paws.

While Vermont Fish & Wildlife had recommended and supported the introduction of earlier legislation in the session to end the sale of black bear organs, the original bill did not survive. In the closing days of this year’s session, lobbyist Patti Komline and Bob Galvin were instrumental in getting the bear language added to SB301 with the support of Commissioner Herrick. At the May 15, 2024 Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board meeting in Montpelier, both Vermont Wildlife Patrol and Bob Galvin thanked VFWD’s Commissioner Herrick and the Warden Service for their work on S.301 and expressed support for working together on similar threats to Vermont’s wildlife. Despite a contentious legislative season that saw many wildlife advocates testifying against practices like coyote hunting with dogs and a lack of representation within the Fish & Wildlife Board, Vermont Wildlife Patrol believes the common love for wildlife shared by advocates and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board will continue to be a foundation for future efforts to protect the wildlife we are all entrusted to protect.

VFWD Commissioner Christopher Herrick & Lt. Robert Currier testifying in support of S.301
Wildlife lobbyist Bob Galvin testifying in support of S.301
House Committee on Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry discuss the sale of bear parts in Vermont.
Documenting coyote baiting and hounding practices near Sutton, Vermont in February 2024.

Despite legislative objections to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board’s definition of control of hounds, the first regulated coyote hunting season with dogs ran from late January to the end of March 2024. Last fall, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (VFW) testified to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) that more than the allotted 100 permits may be required in the state’s first regulated season of the controversial sport. Yet only forty-one permits were issued. Many licensed hounders reported not hunting during the season, while nine are in violation of the new rules for not submitting a mandatory take report by April 2, 2024. In a May 1st email VFW staff stated, “The wardens are actively following up with permit holders who have not complied with the report requirement.”

Total number of coyote dog permits issued in January 2024.

The statement comes just a week after VFW Commissioner Christopher Herrick testified to House legislators that Senate Bill 258, which would prohibit coyote baiting and hunting with dogs was unnecessary because the recently concluded season resulted in “…no landowner conflicts” Herrick did not comment on any suspected violations during the abbreviated season which started in January 2024 rather than December 2023 because of the objections filed by LCAR last year. A public records request by Vermont Wildlife Patrol revealed that while 41 permits were issued in person by VFW wardens, as of May 1st only 28 of the mandatory required reports had been returned to VFW as required by the new rules.

LINK TO ALL RETURNED RESIDENT REPORTING FORMS:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IRZeuOc3LfRq25-AB3-BbhAl1SHQ_quN?usp=share_link

Mandatory reporting form that 9 of the 41 permitted hounders have not returned as of May 1st, 2024.

Wallingford, Vermont coyote hounder Terence Wilbur shared these photos on his Facebook page in 2022.

A total of 55 coyotes were reportedly killed by the 28 hound hunters reporting. While most hunters took only a few coyotes during the season, one East Fairfield licensed hounder reported killing 15 coyotes on nine separate hunts between February 3rd and March 23, 2024. This information comes as S.258 remains in the House Committee on Environment and Energy where it is awaiting a vote before the legislative session ends in mid-May.

Coyotes harvested by licensed hounder during 2024 season.

Vermont Wildlife Patrol is asking Vermonters to contact their House representatives and tell them you support a YES vote on S.258 before the season for coyote hunting dog training season begins on June 1st. 20% of the licensed hunters in the first regulated season failing to report their kills is reason enough to ban this controversial practice that is obviously impossible to regulate.

Find your representative: https://legislature.vermont.gov

From the February 21, 2024 Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board meeting in Montpelier, Vermont.

All last week, the Vermont Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy heard testimony on Senate Bill 258, an act related to the management of fish and wildlife. The bill includes provisions that would end coyote baiting and hunting with dogs, strengthen the state’s new trapping regulations by requiring all traps to be set at least fifty feet from trails and other places people are expected to recreate. Most importantly for all future wildlife policy decisions, S.258 would also change the rule making authority of the Fish and Wildlife Board and the way its members are appointed. It would also require any member to be knowledgeable and informed with the best science on wildlife issues and required to learn about wildlife conflict resolution and the impact of climate change on our wildlife.

Vermont Wildlife Patrol was just one of many voices speaking from the experience of feeling unheard by the current board. I provided the Senate Committee with links to nine different board meetings where I provided comment on issues before the board. On February 21, 2024 at the board’s monthly meeting, I testified that all of Vermont’s wildlife was not abundant and flourishing, in response to the Commissioner of Fish and Wildlife’s testimony earlier that day to the Senate Committee that it was. I cited lynx, eastern cougar, gray wolf, caribou, marten and fisher as native Vermont species that have yet to fully recover in the state. Fisher now being threatened by rodenticide poisoning in addition to the continued loss of habitat and a statewide no bag limit trapping season.

Link to Vermont Wildlife Patrol’s and other citizen’s testimony on S.258:

https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/document/2024/30/Date/2-22-2024#documents-section

Testimony of Addison County resident to Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy on February 22, 2024.

Ironically, after my public comments were received the board heard a report on the proposed 2024 waterfowl hunting season that included an update on eastern mallard populations which have declined 38% percent since 1998. The decrease in breeding pairs of Vermont mallards led to a reduction in the bag limit from four to two birds a day for three years. Various factors are suspectedly responsible for the decline, hybridization with game farm raised ducks, habitat fragmentation, increased hay-cutting in nesting areas and hunting are possibly all to blame for the alarming reduction in this iconic species.

At the February board meeting, I also called out the acting chair and board representative from Orange County, Michael Bancroft for not having approached Vermont Wildlife Patrol to discuss any of the issues that I’ve brought up at board meetings. I said that the lack of other people from Orange County attending board members begged the question, who was he listening too if not my own voice? At the break, Bancroft approached me to humbly thank me for calling him out and acknowledged that he had spoken to no other constituents from Orange County and indeed it was time for a discussion. No Vermonter should have to wait a year for their voices to be heard by any representative.

Testimony of West Glover resident to Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy on February 22, 2024.

At the heart of S.258 is a legislative desire to remedy the fact that many Vermonters who do not hunt, trap or fish do not feel represented or heard by the current board, who predominantly are hunters and trappers appointed by Governor Phil Scott. In the last year of attending board meetings, petitions presented by wildlife advocates are routinely denied while petitions that increase hunting and trapping opportunities are readily approved. S.258 would limit the number of board members the governor could appoint while preventing any majority of members from any particular stakeholder group, such as exists with the current board.

Two six-year board terms expire in February 2024, for Essex and Grand Isle Counties.

We encourage all Vermonters to access the hours of testimony given for and against S.258 to better make your own informed decision on whether you believe a new fish and wildlife board is warranted. Perhaps no better opportunity exists for Gov. Phil Scott to prove that the current board demographic is truly representative of Vermont, thank with his soon appointment of two new board members for Essex and Grand Isle Counties. Both board terms expire at the end of February 2024. Vermont Wildlife Patrol challenges the governor to be fair and impartial in his appointment of new Fish and Wildlife Board members.

Support S.258!

Wildlife Deserves A Better Voice

Find your legislator:

https://legislature.vermont.gov

Vermont Wolf Patrol is partnering with For Love of All Things (FLOAT.org) to offer these logo t-shirts, tank tops and hoodies to help us raise funds for our current citizen monitoring of coyote hound hunting practices in Vermont, in support of Senate Bill 258, which would end the practice once and for all. $8 from every purchase goes towards our winter field campaign which began in January 2024 when the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department issued 36 permits to hound hunters despite our legislature’s legal opinion that a moratorium was still in place.

TO PURCHASE: float.org/vermontwildlife

Here’s a video of a recent encounter with coyote hound hunters at the Calendar Brook Wildlife Management Area near Sutton, Vermont. These hunters were operating off of a bait pile that was dumped to attract coyotes that could then be tracked by hunting hounds. S.258 would also ban the use of bait to hunt coyotes and bring much needed reform to the archaic Fish & Wildlife Board.

Stay tuned for more updates as the Vermont Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy receives testimony on this important bill this week. And if you are a Vermonter, please contact your elected state officials and let them know you support Senate Bill 258!

Find your legislator:

legislature.vermont.gov

This Western coyote, with a luxurious fur coat, poses in snow and grass, on a sunny day.

On the heels of disagreements between legislators and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board (VFW) over control of hunting hounds, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy has introduced S.258 which would restructure the Fish & Wildlife Board and prohibit the hunting of coyotes with dogs. On December 14, 2023 the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) filed objections to VFW’s new coyote hunting with dogs rules arguing that the regulations failed to meet the legislative mandate of Act 165. LCAR’s objections were centered on the inability of hound hunters to recall loose dogs, having recommended that the animals be kept within sight and voice control. VFW has argued that GPS tone and shock collars are effective at recalling dogs when they stray onto posted property.

S.258 As Introduced on January 12, 2024

Members of the Fish & Wildlife Board and legal counsel for VFW, Catherine Gjessing have all called LCAR’s recommendations a “defecto ban” on coyote hunting with dogs, stating it is impossible to keep coyote hounds within sight during a hunt. LCAR voted to approve most of the new coyote hunting and trapping rules in November 2023, but because VFW was unwilling to compromise on the control of loose dogs and some trapping issues, LCAR filed four objections which leaves VFW open to possible litigation. Because of LCAR’s objections, the burden of proof would be on VFW to prove that the new rules meet legislative intent.

Back in January 2022, the Vermont Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy first introduced S.281 which quite simply proposed to prohibit the pursuit of coyote with the aid of dogs, either for the training of dogs or for the taking of coyote. Senator Christopher Bray, the Chair of the committee and a member of LCAR was one of the legislators who reached a compromise with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department over concerns about control of loose dogs. But when the final rules were written, VFW and the Board had agreed that GPS tone and shock collars were adequate as a control method.

Vermont Wildlife Patrol’s February 2022 investigation of coyote hunting with hounds in Addison County, Vermont.

A much more timely disagreement between both members of LCAR and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy is over whether the moratorium on coyote hunting with dogs that resulted from the passage of S.281 in May 2022 is still in effect. Following the filing of objections, LCAR wrote to VFW stating:

“The five members of LCAR who voted to file the fourth objection in certified form are of the opinion that the fourth objection being filed in certified form shifts the burden of proof to the Fish and Wildlife Board in any action for judicial review or for enforcement of the rule related to Secs. 3.6 and 4.20, see 3 V.S.A. § 842(c)(2), and should be interpreted as evidence that the current moratorium on pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs is not lifted upon the effective date of the November 30, 2023, Rule, if adopted, because Secs. 3.6 and 4.20 of the November 30, 2023, Rule do not meet the minimum requirements of the rules required by Sec. 3 of Act 165, specifically Sec. 3(b)(4), and therefore the triggering event for the repeal of the moratorium in Act 165, Sec. 2(b) has not been met. This opinion is consistent with the intent of the General Assembly that the moratorium on pursuing coyote with aid of dogs remain in place until the effective date of a Fish and Wildlife Board rule that meets the minimum requirements of Act 165, Sec. 3, of which the November 30, 2023, Rule does not.“

Addison County, Vermont hound hunters

Less than a week after receiving the above letter from LCAR regarding the moratorium, on December 18, 2023 VFW issued a press release stating that the new coyote rules were now in effect and permit applications for coyote hunting with dogs were now available until January 15th when a lottery would be held if applications exceeded the 100 available permits. As of January 9th, only 35 applications had been received. No coyote hunting with dogs is allowed until permits are received according to VFW.

Link to Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s Hunting Coyotes with Dogs page:

https://vtfishandwildlife.com/hunt/hunting-regulations/hunting-coyotes-aid-dog

On January 12, 2024 Senator Bray sponsored and introduced S.258 to change the consumptive user focused Fish & Wildlife Board’s appointment process and to make the board advisory only. The bill would also prohibit hunting coyotes with dogs. During the December 2023 LCAR hearings, Bray indicated to constituents that it was his hope that the moratorium on coyote hunting with dogs would remain in effect until S.258 could be passed this legislative session.

Meanwhile, with permits likely to be issued as soon as January 16th, hound hunters are likely to break the moratorium on hunting coyotes with dogs when the next snow falls providing optimum hunting conditions for finding fresh coyote tracks. Vermont Wildlife Patrol will be monitoring coyote hunting with dogs to document whether hunters are indeed able to recall loose dogs as the new rules require.

Support S.258

Reform Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Board

End Coyote Hunting with Hounds

Call Your Elected Officials Today!

https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/search/2024

Vermont Wildlife Patrol’s December 2023 investigation of fisher trapping practices.

Vermont’s Act 165 required the state’s Fish & Wildlife Department to introduce Best Management Practices (BMPs) for trapping, which are industry standards based on decades of trap research funded by the fur industry. BMP’s for trapping were first introduced in 1991 in response to the European Union’s ban on the importation of furs taken with inhumane trapping methods such as non-lethal foot-hold traps. The most common traps used to take wildlife in Vermont are non-lethal foot-hold and lethal body-gripping traps. While a foot-hold trap is meant to restrain a wild animal, body-gripping traps are designed to crush a target animal’s vital areas with rotating steel jaws.

In June 2023, Vermont Wildlife Patrol began asking Vermont Fish & Wildlife questions about the Conibear 220 body-gripping trap, and published BMP research which concluded that it was ineffective at killing fishers humanely in trap experiments conducted in Canada in 1989. BMP standards for body-gripping traps require that at least 70% of live fisher test subjects be killed within 300 seconds of being caught in a body-gripping trap. In the published tests, researchers stated, “The mechanically improved rotating-jaw traps used in this study were much more powerful than the standard model yet, they did not consistently render fisher irreversibly unconscious within five minutes. Therefore this rotating jaw traps cannot be expected, at a 95% level of confidence to render 70% of fishers captured on traplines irreversibly unconscious in three minutes.”

At a June 2023 meeting with Vermont Wildlife Patrol in regards to the Conibear 220, VFW Wildlife Management Program Director, David Sausville and Furbearer Project Leader, Brehan Furhey were asked, “Act 159 directed VFW to reduce the level of suffering animals experience in traps, yet there are no recommended changes to the use of or size of body-gripping traps used to kill fisher despite some legal fisher traps having been proven to not be effective at killing fisher. Why has the department not made any recommended changes to the use of body-gripping traps themselves that do not adhere to BMP standards?” Both Department officials were unable to provide any answers despite having been provided with questions in advance of the meeting. Finally in December 2023, Sausville responded to the still unanswered questions stating, “The (research) paper (cited) is outdated, the traps are no longer sold, that brand had larger dimensions than typical 220 body gripping traps of today, and the traps of 1988/1989 would be illegal if set on land today. Body gripping traps in the 220 range are indeed BMP approved for trapping fisher and are produced under a variety of commercial names.”

Fisher trap in the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, December 2023.

When again asked for published research which supported that claim in October 2023, Vermont Fish & Wildlife said the department had no published BMP research on body-gripping traps because those experiments were carried out in Canada by the Fur Institute of Canada, which has refused to provide any published BMP research on body-gripping traps to the public. In an email response for any such records, the Commissioner of VFW’s principal assistant stated, “We do not have records of the research that was conducted by the Canadian Provincial authorities, the Fur Institute of Canada, and AFWA for testing body-gripping traps to develop the BMPs.” Yet in the June 2023 Responsiveness Summary: Public Comments Best Management Practices for Furbearer Trapping, Vermont Fish & Wildlife stated, “The BMPs to improve the welfare of trapped animals are backed by a 23-year international science-based research effort by AFWA (Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies) as well as input from our stakeholder working group. Trapping systems that do not meet these criteria will become illegal.” 

A skinned mink carcass used for bait in a Vermont fisher trap on the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge in December 2023.

Vermont Wildlife Patrol and many citizens remain unconvinced about the killing efficiency of body-gripping traps according the VFW’s summary of public comments received about the new trapping rules. For example, in January 2022 a fisher was found on the VAST snowmobile trail in Troy, Vermont with a body-gripping trap on its head. The animal was able to be picked up and driven on a snowmobile to a location where the warden could be called, but without signal, the woman decided to humanely dispatch the fisher with her handgun. According to the investigating warden, “The trap had caused severe damage to the face and mouth areas of the fisher. The fisher would not have been able to open its mouth at all and was most likely blind. As a result of my observations, my estimate was that the fisher had been caught by the trap only a few days prior at most.” The same trapper who is also contracted with the Department of Transportation (VTrans) as a nuisance trapper, was cited for catching the fisher out of season, but the incident highlights the questionable killing power of body-gripping traps currently used to kill fisher in Vermont.

The fisher found in Troy, Vermont stumbling on the VAST snowmobile trail with a Duke 160 body-gripping trap on her face.

Vermont’s fisher trapping season runs the entire month of December and according to trapper surveys for the last ten years, on average between 150-300 fishers are killed each season, most often using traps similar to the 160 body-gripping trap reportedly found on the fisher in Troy. The 160 is much smaller than the 220 trap which failed the reported BMP tests. This year, Vermont Wildlife Patrol began an investigation of fisher trapping practices in the Northeast Kingdom to determine whether animals caught in body-gripping traps were indeed being humanely killed. We remain unconvinced that traps currently listed as BMP approved are effective at killing fishers within the BMP required five minutes in lab tests. Until Vermont Fish & Wildlife provides scientific evidence that the 160 & 220 body-gripping traps used to legally take fisher in Vermont have passed BMP tests, we are asking that the traps be made illegal as was earlier promised by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

Link to Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s timeline of rule making process for trapping BMP’s:

https://vtfishandwildlife.com/trapping-bmps-and-coyote-hunting-regulations-updates#BMPs1

On December 14th, 2023, in its sixth hearing on Vermont’s proposed new trapping and coyote hounding rules, the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) voted to certify four objections to major portions of the state’s new trapping and coyote hunting with hounds laws. Both the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (VFW) and Fish & Wildlife Board have expressed that LCAR’s objection to the use of GPS shock and tone collars as a control method for coyote hunting hounds equates to a “de facto ban” on the practice. Recognizing that there is no effective means to recall loose hunting hounds when they either trespass or attack pets and livestock, LCAR recommended amending the proposed rules to include keeping hounds in visual sight and under voice commands, which board members stated was “impossible.” According to the VFW’s new Hunting Coyotes with the Aid of Dogs web page the new rules state that, “…at all times during training dogs and taking of coyote with the aid of dogs the permittee shall be able to locate and remotely recall the dogs.”

Vermont Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules December 14, 2023 letter to Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department

The certification of the objection with the Secretary of State was accompanied with a letter to the Fish & Wildlife Department explaining why LCAR members believed the moratorium on coyote hunting with hounds remains in effect because the Department’s definition of control did not meet the minimum legislative intent of Act 165. From the 12/14/23 letter:

“The five members of LCAR who voted to file the fourth objection in certified form are of the opinion that the fourth objection being filed in certified form shifts the burden of proof to the Fish and Wildlife Board in any action for judicial review or for enforcement of the rule related to Secs. 3.6 and 4.20, see 3 V.S.A. § 842(c)(2), and should be interpreted as evidence that the current moratorium on pursuing coyote with the aid of dogs is not lifted upon the effective date of the November 30, 2023, Rule, if adopted, because Secs. 3.6 and 4.20 of the November 30, 2023, Rule do not meet the minimum requirements of the rules required by Sec. 3 of Act 165, specifically Sec. 3(b)(4), and therefore the triggering event for the repeal of the moratorium in Act 165, Sec. 2(b) has not been met.“

Curiously, on the Hunting Coyotes with the aid of Dogs web page, VFW chose only to provide a public link to LCAR’s letter to the Secretary of State, not its letter to VFW which included the above language regarding the moratorium.

Three other objections were certified with the Secretary of State related to a proposal to redefine trapping as a form of hunting, the definition of public trails and a proposed exemption from setback requirements for traps that are placed in the water. The redefinition of trapping as a form of hunting would have provided greater constitutional protections for the controversial practice. Vermont’s Constitution includes provisions on hunting, fishing and fowling, but not trapping. Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department legal counsel, Catherine Gjessing testified that the change was simply “housekeeping” and when asked by the Chair of LCAR whether the legislative mandate of Act 159 directed the Department to enact such a change, her response was “no.” (see video below)

Vermont Fish & Wildlife legal counsel, Catherine Gjessing answering LCAR Chair, Trevor Squirrell’s questions about objections.

In response to LCAR’s objections, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board held a special meeting on December 14, 2023 where board members voted unanimously to advance the new rules despite the four objections from LCAR. When board member, Paul Noel asked the Commissioner of Vermont Fish & Wildlife, “I want clarification on what would happen with the coyote hounding moratorium if we do vote to advance these rules tonight…” Commissioner Christopher Herrick responded, We are looking at our legal options right now.”

On December 18, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s website was updated to include a page where applicants could begin the process to obtain a coyote dog permit with a application deadline of January 15, 2024. When Vermont Wildlife Patrol asked Commissioner Herrick about the moratorium, he responded, “In accordance with Vermont law, the Fish and Wildlife Board has the authority to adopt the Furbearing Species Rules after responding to the LCAR objections. The adopted rules have been filed and will become effective January 1, 2023.  As such, the moratorium is automatically repealed on that date.”

VFW Hunting Coyotes with Dogs webpage:

https://vtfishandwildlife.com/hunt/hunting-regulations/hunting-coyotes-aid-dog

LCAR’s objections pave the way for legal challenges to the new rules with the burden of proof resting on the Fish & Wildlife Department. Due to the objection to the definition of “control” in regards to coyote hounds, if challenged in court, the Department will have to convince a judge that GPS shock and tone collars do indeed equate to control and thus meet the legislative mandate of Act 165.

Vermont Wildlife Patrol will resume its citizen monitoring of coyote hunting with hounds across the state in January 2024, if indeed the moratorium on coyote hunting with hounds is lifted. The intent of our monitoring effort will be to ascertain whether hound hunters are in accordance with new regulations, specifically the ability to remotely recall loose hounds. We will also be gathering evidence to provide to legislators to illustrate what hunting coyotes with dogs in Vermont really looks like.

Photo shared on Facebook by Wallingford, Vermont hound hunter, Terance Wilbur.
This is a condensed video of the November 16, 2023 Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules hearing where lawmakers voted to object to four key provisions of VFW’s proposed trapping and coyote hounding rules.

On November 16, 2023 Vermont’s Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) voted to approve the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s (VFW) proposed trapping and coyote hunting with hounds rules, but with four key objections that could lead to legal challenges in the future on the grounds that the rules did not meet the legislative intent of both Acts 159 and 165.

Both laws directed the Commissioner of Fish & Wildlife to propose new regulations for hunting coyotes with hounds and trapping rules to reduce the instances of domestic pet captures and the level of suffering experienced by animals in traps. In hearings that began in October, LCAR has shared the concerns of wildlife advocates that the rules favor trappers and hounders more than the interests of public safety and wildlife. At the October 19, 2023 LCAR hearing on the subject, Vermont Wildlife Patrol was one of the numerous groups testifying as to why the proposed rules failed legislative intent, such as body-gripping traps that have not passed Best Management Practices (BMP) tests or the exemption of traps in the water from new rules that would require traps be set at least 50 feet from public roads and trails.

In October 2023, a cat was caught in this trap in Williston, Vermont.

On November 16, VFW Legal Counsel Catherine Gjessing weakly explained why the Department believed its proposed rules met legislative intent, including her description of over two dozen witnesses who testified against the rules in October as being “sophisticated animal rights advocates…who represent a minority of Vermont.” Yet, the 2022 Responsive Management survey that VFW often cites as an indicator of Vermonter opinions on trapping recorded 68% of respondents being opposed to recreational trapping. Later during the hearing, Senator Christopher Bray explained why he was introducing a motion to approve the rules but with objections saying that as Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, he believed the proposed rules did not fully meet the legislative intent of both Act 159 and 165. He then introduced a motion to object to VFW’s exemption of traps in the water or under ice from the new required setback from public trails of fifty feet on the grounds that the legislature did not instruct the Commissioner to make such an exemption. In Vermont, the majority of all trapping takes place in the water and under the ice, often immediately off of trails and roads where beavers are active.

Like other fighting dogs, coyote hounds are taught and praised for their bloodlust.

Next, Senator Bray introduced a second motion to object to the definition of control of dogs which VFW’s proposed rules say are GPS collars that monitor the movements of loose hounds without maintaining visual contact. In a memo to VFW dated October 26, four LCAR members stated, “While we can see value in using a training/control collar as that term is proposed to be defined, we would like to see proposed modifications to Furbearing Species Rule, Sec. 4.20 that actually effectuate the General Assembly’s intent as expressed in Act 165, possibly through requirements around maintaining dogs that are being used to aid in the taking of coyote in visual site or under voice control, or both.”

Later, Rep. Mark Higley would say that such an objection could amount to a defacto ban on hunting coyotes with hounds. Representative Seth Bongartz then made a motion to object to VFW’s proposed new definition of trapping, which would increase the likelihood that it might become a protected activity under the Vermont Constitution which does protect hunting. Rep. Bongartz then introduced a second motion to object to VFW’s proposed definition of public trails which VFW has worked tirelessly to exclude trails used by trappers such as the VAST trail network.

Over 350 coyotes were trapped and reported in Vermont’s mandatory trapper survey during the 2020-21 season. Unfortunately, on average 30% of licensed Vermont trappers fail to return the surveys according to VFW’s own records.

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board must now respond to LCAR’s objections by November 30, 2023. If the failure to meet legislative intent is not addressed to the satisfaction of LCAR, the rules will move forward but be subject to legal challenges by a host of affected individuals and organizations. To view testimony submitted on behalf of Vermont’s wildlife by advocates, please visit:

https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/document/2024/39/Date/10-2-2023#documents-section

To view the November 30, 2023 LCAR hearing or watch any of the past four LCAR hearings on this issue please visit:

https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2024/39

Vermont Wildlife Patrol’s October 2023 testimony to the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules.

For months, Vermont Wildlife Patrol and many other wildlife advocates have testified to the shortcomings of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department & Board’s proposed changes to trapping and coyote hunting rules. On October 5, 2023 the Vermont Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) met to review the proposed changes to determine if they met the legislative intent of both law’s, Act 159 and Act 165. Act 159 mandated that the department propose changes to trapping to reduce the level of suffering experienced by animals in traps, and to reduce the risk of capture of domestic pets. Act 165 establishes rules and regulations for the hunting of coyotes with hounds, a previously unregulated sport in Vermont and most states in the country.

The October 5th hearing was an opportunity for Vermont Fish & Wildlife officials to explain to LCAR their reasoning behind their weak proposed changes, which heavily favored trappers and hound hunters by excluding many forms of trapping and hounding from any changes. A second hearing on October 19th, gave wildlife advocates including members of Vermont Wildlife Patrol, Animal Wellness Action, Green Mountain Animal Defenders, Protect Our Wildlife, Vermont Wildlife Coalition, Project Coyote, In Defense of Animals and other citizens the opportunity to respond. One of the citizen’s testifying was Katy Cupo, from Castleton who’s German shepherd was caught in a legally set body-gripping trap on October 3rd. The trap was set for beaver the day before by a nuisance trapper recommended by the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department to Castleton University which owns the land the trap was set on.

The October 19th LCAR hearing. Public testimony begins at 9:15.

Public testimony from Vermont Wildlife Patrol focused on two major shortfalls of the proposed trapping changes, the failure of the department to provide any scientific evidence that the 220 body-gripping trap currently used to kill fisher in Vermont, had passed BMP testing as required by Act 159 and secondly, the exclusion of traps placed in the water from any recommended trail and road setback rule. Already at the October 5th LCAR hearing, committee members expressed many concerns that the department’s proposal did not include all trails in Vermont, instead only those mapped by the Department of Transportation.

We provided video testimony to LCAR from an active Department of Transportation nuisance beaver trapping site in West Pawlet on the D&H Rail Trail, where body-gripping and foot-hold traps were placed less than twenty feet from trails used by dog walkers. Our testimony illustrated how traps that were placed in the water would continue to pose dangers to domestic pets under the current recommended changes that exclude all traps placed in the water. In Vermont, the majority of trapping is done for beaver and muskrat, both aquatic species, yet Vermont Fish & Wildlife excluded water trapping from any proposed impact of Act 159.

Link to evidence provided by Vermont Wildlife Patrol to LCAR: https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/WorkGroups/LCAR/23-P15%20-%2010%20V.S.A.%20Appendix%20§%2044,%20Furbearing%20Species/Rod%20Coronado%20Testimony/W~Rod%20Coronado%20Testimony~23-P15%20-%20Rod%20Coronado%20Testimony~10-3-2023.pdf

On October 27, 2023 LCAR members briefed the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department on why they believed the current proposed changes did not meet legislative intent in a memo that explained the four major areas the committee felt were in contradiction to legislative intent. The first was to not include all Vermont trails from trap setback rules and the second was the failure to include traps in the water from the reach of Act 159.

“In the water” beaver traps intended to drown animals after capture at West Pawlet, Vermont September 30, 2023

“We are also of the opinion that it is inconsistent with the intent of the General Assembly and arbitrary to exempt traps that are in the water or under ice from setback requirements. There was no reference to any such exemption in Act 159, nor do we think that it makes sense to a reasonable person that individuals, potentially with their domesticated animals, would not be recreating in water or on ice that is within 50 feet of the edge of the traveled portion of a legal trail, public trail, or public highway. We would like to see this exemption eliminated from Furbearing Species Rule, Sec. 4.15.”

Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules October 27, 2023

The October 27, 2023 LCAR memo to Fish & Wildlife.

The other issues taken by LCAR were with the recommended method of control of loose hounds by coyote hunters to still only be by GPS radio shock, tone and tracking collars. Under the recommended changes, there were no meaningful changes made to the practice of hunting coyotes with hounds, only rules governing the existing practices like using GPS collars to track hounds as they sometimes roam miles of terrain. Committee members suggest hounds be within eyesight and controlled by voice commands.

The last substantiative disagreement made was to address what was clearly an attempt by the department to place trapping under the protection of Vermont’s Constitution which currently protects only “hunting, fowling and fishing.” Within the proposed changes, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board had also voted to change the definition of trapping in Vermont to a means of hunting, not a separate practice. LCAR cited no legislative intent for such a change, and requested that the change be omitted.

Next comes the November 1st, 2023 Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board meeting, where members of the board must vote to approve any recommended changes to the current and previously voted on proposal which has now been rejected by LCAR. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board could vote to move the current proposal forward without LCAR’s support and the rules could be promulgated without LCAR’s recommended changes, but such a path would leave the Board open to what would be a certain court challenge by wildlife advocates including Vermont Wildlife Patrol.

Hear Vermont Fish & Wildlife legal counsel, Catherine Gjessing explaining what the department did not want the public to hear.

On November 2, 2023 LCAR will reconvene to possibly review and vote on any new proposed changes from the Fish & Wildlife Department and Board, which must be received by Noon, October 30, 2023. All relevant documents including Vermont Wildlife Patrol’s testimony and supporting evidence is available from the LCAR website. The October 5th hearing schedule includes mostly written testimony, whereas the October 19th hearing included mostly verbal testimony from 40 witnesses.

Join Vermont Wildlife Patrol as we continue to fight for our animal relations! Come to the November, 1st Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board meeting:

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board will hold a virtual meeting at 5:00 pm. November 1, 2023 Most Board Members and department staff will be attending remotely. There is an in-person option for members of the public who cannot attend virtually, at the Davis Building, 1 National Life Drive, Montpelier, VT 05620.

Click below for meeting agenda and link to watch remotely!

https://vtfishandwildlife.com/sites/fishandwildlife/files/documents/Vermont%20Fish%20and%20Wildlife%20Board%20Meeting%20Documents/2023-Meeting-Agenda/Board_Meeting_Agenda_11.1.23.pdf

Last year, over a dozen dogs and cats were caught in foot-hold and body-gripping traps in Vermont. At least two dogs and one cat died. Vermont’s Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) is currently reviewing proposed changes to trapping rules that are intended to reduce the danger posed to pets by traps placed near roads and trails, which is a common trapping practice in Vermont.

Just this October 3, 2023 a woman was walking her German shepherd on the Castleton University trail system when the dog was caught in a body-gripping trap set only seven feet from the trail by a licensed nuisance beaver trapper. Vermont Wildlife Patrol is asking dog owners to exercise caution in areas where traps might occur, especially in areas near water with beaver activity. Cat owners should also not leave animals out overnight where they might roam and encounter a recently set trap. There have been two reports this October alone of cats being caught in nuisance animal traps set for skunk and other wildlife, one in Barre and the latest in Williston on October 24th.

How to release your pet from a body-gripping trap:

LCAR’s next hearing is November 2, 2023. For information from the October 5th & 19th sessions: https://legislature.vermont.gov/committee/detail/2024/39

Read the latest memorandum from LCAR to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Board about the need to make the public safer from the consequences of legal trapping and the hunting of coyotes with hounds in Vermont.