Vermont Fish & Wildlife needs to change

To the Editor:

As an animal behaviorist and trainer, I’d like to know why Vermont legislators failed to pass or move any pro-wildlife bills this year. H.316 put hunting dogs under visual and verbal control of hounders, but it did not pass despite having multiple co-sponsors.

Why is the Legislature catering to a few fringe individuals? A majority of people in the know neither likes how the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department operates, nor how its board is run.

Less than 6 percent of the U.S. population hunts. Even fewer trap or hound animals. Most deer hunters and fishermen do not agree with indiscriminate and cruel traps set on public trails, killing contests or hounding. The only thing that will change the way the department operates is if the state enacts pro-wildlife legislation. Laws must be created by the Legislature — not the board, which is full of rabid hunters, trappers and hounders.

Allowing hounders and trappers to regulate themselves and control Vermont’s wildlife is negligent and irresponsible.

Wild animals are given zero protections.

If you are a wildlife rehabber, you are not allowed to help the vast majority of animals in Vermont. You are not allowed to help an adult skunk, raccoon, fox, coyote and many other creatures — even if you are vaccinated and even if you are a veterinarian.

No game warden has access to sedatives or tranquilizer guns to quickly sedate an animal, move it or give it assistance. Other countries, and professions, use them all the time when working with animals.

We’re told, “Let nature run its course,” but most wildlife injuries are human inflicted. Nature didn’t cause them. Humans did. Nature did not lodge an arrow in a deer and then leave that deer to work it out on its own, nor did nature cause a skunk to get its head stuck in a peanut butter jar.

But if you have a hunting or trapping license, you can beat, stab and bludgeon an animal and then leave it helpless and injured, but no one is legally allowed to help or aid that animal.

Wildlife rehabbers are overwhelmed with calls from people wanting to help injured and orphaned wildlife. When anyone calls the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, they are told to either let the injured animal be or kill it in some fashion.

Why is the fish and wildlife board and department allowed to run this way?

Wildlife rehabbers are required to report regularly. They have a myriad of restrictions — often mundane and contrary — placed on them by the department that they must abide by or they will lose their license. Yet, the department fights any restrictions if they are directed toward hunters, hounders and trappers.

More people want to help animals than hurt them. People want to feel safe in the woods. Why is the Legislature continuing to cater to a few, when most of the public do not condone or use the tactics promoted and practiced by the fish and wildlife board, department and commissioner? We deserve better.

Alana Stevenson

Charlotte