Animal Groups Ask Fish & Game to Give Nuisance Wildlife a Helping Hand

Animal Protection Institute
Thursday, 11 April 2002

The Fund for Animals and the Animal Protection Institute are teaming up to urge the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (F&G) to change its regulations pertaining to wildlife control operators (WCOs). The current regulations contain loopholes such as allowing WCOs to sell the pelts of animals whom they are hired to remove. Laura Simon, Urban Wildlife Director for The Fund for Animals, will be present at the public hearing on April 16th at 6:30 p.m. to ask the F&G to set strict standards so that WCOs use humane, non-lethal methods of animal control.

WCOs are people in the business of removing "nuisance" wildlife, such as skunks, raccoons, and opossums, from people's homes and other areas where they are not wanted. They often charge hundreds of dollars to trap an animal who could easily be evicted by the homeowner using a kinder, non-lethal method.

"While we applaud the F&G for recognizing the need to oversee the 'nuisance' wildlife industry, certain provisions in the proposed rule are fatally flawed," said Simon. "For example, allowing WCOs to sell the pelts of trapped animals provides irresistible temptation for them to kill wild animals instead of releasing them humanely."

According to the animal protection groups, the rules do not require that WCOs follow American Veterinary Medical Association-approved techniques when they kill an animal, which means continued use of common inhumane killing methods such as drowning raccoons and injecting skunks with acetone (nail polish remover).

"If New Hampshire residents knew that the F&G's proposed regulations allow wild animals to be legally trapped with cruel body-gripping traps and killed by drowning and poisoning, they would be outraged," said Camilla Fox, National Campaign Director of the Animal Protection Institute.

The Fund for Animals offers free information on humanely removing "nuisance" wildlife through their 24-hour hotline at 203-389-4411 or at www.fund.org/urbanwildlife/.

For more information, or to contact Animal Protection Institute, see their website at: www.api4animals.org