Alana Stevenson: Do you care about wildlife? look at your governor

This comment is from Alana Stevenson, an animal behaviorist who lives in Charlotte.

Many Vermonters don’t know how Vermont’s wildlife is managed. We tend to think of Vermont as picturesque, pro-environmental, and progressive. In reality, when it comes to wildlife, animals, and the environment, Vermont lags far behind many other states.

In fact, there are no protections for wild animals in Vermont. The minimal restrictions that may exist are rarely enforced. If there is any application, the consequences are minor or non-existent.

How is Vermont wildlife managed? As it stands now, it is not at all democratic. The fish and wildlife commissioner, who decides how the Department of Fish and Wildlife functions and operates, what policies it implements, and how the rules are enforced, is chosen by the governor. Our current governor is in favor of harassment, capture and hunting. He has publicly stated that if trapping bans are passed, he will veto them (hopefully if that happens, the Legislature will override his veto).

The governor also elects the Board of Fish and Wildlife. The Fish and Wildlife Board oversees and creates all protections and regulations regarding wild animals. Board members can override Fish and Wildlife biologists. The members of the Fish and Wildlife Board are a small group of hunters, hunters, and trappers. They are not voted. They don’t have to post their resumes. They do not need to have degrees in environmental science, wildlife biology, conservation, or any related field. They are not scientists.

The bottom line is that the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife regulates itself. Those who harass, trap, and hunt create their own rules that they follow and enforce. They can and do hold the non-hunting public to an entirely different set of standards. These double standards have no scientific basis and are often irrational and unethical.

These are just some of the current problems with the operation of Vermont Fish & Wildlife.

• Wild animals are given zero protections regarding how they are treated.
• There is no veterinarian on staff at the department.
• The public may not “touch” or assist “rabies vector” species such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, etc. However, hunters and trappers can physically attack, beat, hang and skin these same animals, without the need for vaccinations and without restrictions.
• If you have a hunting or trapping license, you can hit, stab and beat an animal and then render it helpless and injured.
• If you are a wildlife rehabilitator, you cannot help most of the animals in Vermont. You are not allowed to help skunks, raccoons, foxes, deer, coyotes and many other young or adult animals, even if you are vaccinated and even if you are a veterinarian.

When members of the public find an injured wild animal, Fish & Wildlife tells them to “let nature take its course.” But most wildlife injuries are inflicted by humans. Nature did not cause them. The humans did.

Nature didn’t put an arrow in a deer’s head and then let the deer fend for itself, or hurt a wild animal by hitting it with a car, or orphan a little animal by shooting or running over it. mother.

Wildlife rehabilitators are overwhelmed with calls from people who want to help injured and orphaned wildlife. If someone calls the Department of Fish and Wildlife, they are told to let the animal suffer or to kill it in some barbaric way, like beating it, drowning it, or gassing it.

Wildlife rehabilitators must report periodically. They have a lot of restrictions put in place by Vermont Fish & Wildlife. If they do not comply with these restrictions, they will lose their licenses. However, trappers and hunters do not have to report at all, even if they kill, maim or injure endangered or pet animals.

The public is expected to maintain control over their dogs. Domestic dogs are not allowed to chase or attack wildlife and may be shot for chasing wildlife. However, hunters can release packs of dogs, unsupervised and unrestricted, to chase and attack wild animals in the forests where they live. Additionally, hounds can be run year-round, and training seasons occur when bears, raccoons, bobcats, and other animals are nursing their young.

Beyond the abhorrent cruelty to animals that are victims of bloodhounds, harassment poses a serious risk to the safety of people. If you and your companion or pets are attacked by bloodhounds, there is nothing you can do. It is legal in Vermont.

Home and property owners have no say in whether or not hunters are welcome on their property. Bloodhounds can come from out of state, run their dogs on your private property, even if it’s posted, and then leave. There are no consequences.

Dogs used for hunting are pawns for recreation. The training is not sophisticated as it is a modified dogfight. Hunting dogs are often neglected and live year-round in cages and kennels. They are abandoned and killed when they are no longer useful. Vermont animal protection laws pertaining to dogs apparently do not apply to hunting hounds.

Vermont rangers post photos of themselves on social media with animals they have killed. A Vermont ranger has shared photos of himself smiling with a bloodied coyote surrounded by exhausted hunting dogs. If these are the rangers who oversee and enforce hunting and wildlife protection regulations, what does that say about how the department is managed and run?

Those who care about animals are traumatized by the lack of laws in Vermont and the terrible way wild animals are treated. Those who want to help wildlife are limited or prohibited from doing so. However, for hunters, hunters, and trappers, it’s the Wild West and “anything goes.”

The former wildlife commissioner publicly stated that the Department of Fish and Wildlife does only what the Vermont Legislature allows. The Vermont Legislature has served hunters, hunters, and those who enjoy hunting for recreation. The Vermont Legislature has not listened to private landowners and homeowners, not hunters, wildlife rehabilitators, bird watchers, hikers, ethical farmers, or animal advocates, nor does it appear to care about the treatment and protection of animals. wild. This needs to change.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board should be abolished altogether, or voted in democratically, as should the fish and wildlife commissioner. If the governor doesn’t catch up with current science and ethics in how wildlife is managed and how wild animals are treated, and if he doesn’t care about the rights of property owners to protect themselves from feckless persecutors and hunters, then Vermonters need to vote on a new governor.