2024 Wildlife Bills

S.258 - Senate version of a bill to reform the Fish & Wildlife Board and restrict coyote hounding and baiting. Go to the bill’s page on the state website (click the “As Introduced” link to read the bill). You can also see a bill summary published by Protect Our Wildlife.

TAKE ACTION:

1. If your senator voted for the bill (voting results), please thank them.

2. Please contact your representative on the house side and ask them to support 258. IMPORTANT: If any of your legislators sit on the House Environment and Energy Committee, their vote is critical so please contact them. Remember, you can call and leave a message or even send a postcard to them at 115 State Street Montpelier, VT 05633. (This would be a great way to get kids involved in the legislative process!)

TIP: Need an easy way to get your senator and representative contact details? Enter your address here. After you enter your address, click the Vermont box under the address field and scroll down to see Senators and Representatives.

Remember, your message can be brief. Simply let the legislators know your name, town, and include the bill number (258). Thank them for their work and let them know you would like to see this bill get passed quickly!

April 3, 2024 - What S.258 Does in its current form:

What S.258 does

• Makes the Fish & Wildlife Board advisory only, putting it in line with other boards in Vermont.

• Turns rulemaking authority over to the scientists at the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.

• Governor appoints one member from each county and the legislature will appoint two additional members.

• When appointing new Board members, the appointing authority must take into consideration “challenges to wildlife and habitat caused by climate change, including an unprecedented loss of biodiversity, and prioritize the value of science in the work to conserve, protect, and restore natural ecosystems.”

• “Upon appointment, each Board member receives training from the Department on wildlife management and hunting ethics, such as the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation; wildlife biology; coexistence with wildlife; the reduction of conflict between humans and wildlife; and the impacts of climate change on fish and wildlife.” The inclusion of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation into the educational requirements was a compromise between wildlife advocates and opponents of the bill.

• Bans both coyote hounding and hunting coyotes over bait, practices that are not supported by modern science.

What S.258 does not do!

• Will not add more than a minimal, if any, cost to the Department budget because the rulemaking process already requires the Department to undergo public hearings, submit reports on petitions to the Board and the public, and other tasks.

• Will not negatively impact the deer herd—it actually states that: “A healthy deer herd is one of the most important goals of fish and wildlife management!”

• Will not require “animal rights activists” to be appointed to the Board.

What problems are we trying to solve with S.258?

Fish & Wildlife Board (FWB):

• The current FWB represents a very narrow set of interests. The 14 board members consist of hunters, trappers, and anglers , one from each county, are chosen through a backroom, opaque process. The FWB does not represent public interests, and we would argue that it does not even fully represent the diverse perspectives within the hunting and angling communities. For example, many hunters, including members of VWC, are opposed to killing coyotes and other animals for fun and abide by the ethic that if you kill an animal, you should use it. These hunters have not been welcome on the FWB.

• The current FWB can set the rules in their favor even when there is a conflict of interest. For example, the otter fur season was extended several years ago after one trapper (and friend of FWB members) requested it, saying extending the season would be more convenient for him and other trappers since one trap could then be used to catch both beavers and otters with no adjustments. The FWB voted to extend the season.

• The FWB are lay people without training in wildlife biology and conservation. While their experience offers a valuable perspective to the Fish & Wildlife Department staff, it should be in an advisory capacity. They should not be the decision-makers.

Coyote hounding and baiting:

• Today, coyotes are killed for entertainment. They are used as target practice. There is no consideration of their social structure or the fact that, as predators, their population is largely self-regulating. While the bill doesn’t solve this issue, it helps reduce the wanton waste of coyotes. (Note that coyotes are exempt from Vermont’s wanton waste law.)

• Today, coyote hunters use packs of dogs to hunt coyotes, leading to trespassing, serious conflicts with property owners, and risks to other animals (including domestic farm animals). Coyote hounding can look a lot like dog fighting and is extremely inhumane.

• We don’t allow baiting for other types of hunting and should not allow it for coyote hunting either. Baiting coyotes creates a risk for dogs, even when with their owners since a strong scent can distract a dog and put her into a hunter’s target within seconds. (See Recent Incidents.) Baiting creates a risk for all animals, including birds of prey.

Learn more about coyotes: A Brief Introduction

Peer-reviewed research indicates that wanton killing of coyotes does three things: 1) increases breeding; 2) causes vacated territories that will soon be inhabited by new packs; and 3) causes pack instability, which may present new problems where there previously were none.   

Why Coyote Pack Stability Matters More Than Population - Stable coyote groups are simply a tight-knit family consisting of the monogamous breeding pair and their pups (new pups and previous female pups, who help raise the new pups). Coyotes practice responsive reproduction so they are able to quickly increase their population when threatened. For example, when one or both of the monogamous breeding pair are killed, younger coyotes in the pack, who might otherwise stay with their parents and remain functionally sterile for up to four years, disperse and begin breeding. And surviving females in an area where coyotes are being hunted heavily will have larger than normal litters. 

Without stable family units, coyotes lose their home territory and familiar hunting grounds. When the breeding pair is killed, the remaining pups often lose the home territory, where they have begun to learn their prey patterns and can easily find natural food sources. It is not hard to imagine what happens when coyote families are continually thrown into chaos. Risk-taking to find food increases. Human-coyote conflict can increase. 

Coyotes compensate for reductions in population with increasing immigration, reproduction, and pup survival rates. In one study, nearby coyotes replaced removed coyotes within a few weeks! In the words of one researcher, “Killing coyotes is kind of like mowing the lawn, it stimulates vigorous new growth.” In order to sustain larger litters of pups, breeding adults are compelled to seek larger prey. Nearby sheep - usually ignored by adult coyotes in an unexploited, stable population - become a ready source of food.

— https://extension.oregonstate.edu/animals-livestock/sheep-goats/using-coyotes-protect-livestock-wait-what