Legislation

Traps are inherently indiscriminate and are responsible for injuring and killing non-targeted animals each year in Vermont, including dogs and cats.
Leghold, cage traps and body-crushing kill traps such as Conibears™ are legal in Vermont.
Traps inflict prolonged suffering, including broken bones and teeth, torn tendons, and dislocated joints, as animals desperately attempt to free themselves. Animals may also “wring off” their limbs, leaving nothing but a foot in the trap.
Animals are subjected to terror, pain, and predation by other animals while immobilized in the trap.
Title 10 §4828 allows trapped animals to be bludgeoned, stomped on (to crush the animal's heart and lungs), drowned, strangled and killed by other inhumane methods. If the animal is "lucky," s/he is shot.
Traps may be set on private lands (with notice) as well as our shared public lands, including National Wildlife Refuges, with no required signage or warnings.
Trappers are likely losing money from trapping since the fur market has been on a steady decline.Trappers admit that they continue trapping despite the poor fur market, often for recreation, sport, or out of intolerance toward predator species.
There are humane and sustainable ways to handle wildlife conflicts without having to trap animals.
Because steel-jaw leghold traps are inherently cruel, they have been banned in 88 countries. Their use is banned or restricted in several U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington. The European Union has banned the use of steel-jaw traps in Europe and banned the importation of pelts from countries that use these cruel devices to trap and kill fur-bearing animals.
75% of Vermont residents polled by the University of Vermont's Center for Rural Studies want to ban trapping. Read more here.
There is no limit on the number of traps a trapper may set, leaving areas potentially saturated with traps.
There is no limit on the number of animals (e.g. bobcats, otters, foxes) a trapper may kill in season.

Coyotes

There is a culture of hatred and loathing towards coyotes in Vermont. No other animal is persecuted with such violence. The photos and comments seen on social media by Vermont coyote hunters depict gratuitous violence and torture. See report here compiled by the Vermont Coyote Coexistence Coalition.
Coyotes may be "hunted" all year long, day and night, which means pups are orphaned when the parents are killed.
Hunters admit to intentionally taking non-lethal shots to injure coyotes, allowing their hounds to easily attack the wounded animal—a practice that constitutes animal fighting.
This kind of killing represents wanton waste since the coyote carcasses are dumped.
Vermont's image is being tarnished as tourists view piles of bloodied dead coyotes on truck beds.
Packs of hounds run down a single coyote to the point of exhaustion. The coyote is cornered, often times injured, where the dogs then attack the coyote (that is their reward). This is a form of legalized dog-fighting. View VT coyote here.
An open season on coyotes does nothing to manage populations, rather it actually causes increased breeding and upsets the pack hierarchy, which may lead to the very problems coyote killers are trying to solve. Learn more about compensatory response here.
Coyote hunters kill coyotes with no intent to use the animal in any way, which is wasteful killing (wanton waste). Their bodies are often left to rot where they were killed.
70.5% of Vermont residents polled by UVM's Center for Rural Studies want to ban the wasteful killing of wildlife. Read more here.
When coyote packs are stable, coyotes hunt wild prey and teach their young to hunt wild prey. They settle into their territory and learn the patterns and habits of their wild prey, and their diet consists largely of rodents.
Over the last 10 years, there's only been 69 incidents reported of coyotes killing livestock in Vermont. Often times coyotes are blamed when the culprit is actually domestic dogs or other predators.

"Nuisance" wildlife trapping

Trapping out of season in defense of property (details here) is unregulated. Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators (NWCOs) are for-profit businesses that trap and kill animals and are not even required to be permitted by the state or be trained in non-lethal, humane solutions. Thanks to legislation we helped pass in 2018, they now have to possess a trapping license. We urge the public to use extreme caution when hiring NWCOs since they do not always disclose their protocols to their customers. For example, much to the public's surprise, NWCOs often drown trapped animals like skunks and raccoons offsite.
The definition of what constitutes a "nuisance" animal is dangerously vague. The animal does not even have to be caught in the act of causing damage to property. The animal may be trapped and killed if the animal is simply suspected to cause damage in the future!
Like coyote hunting, "nuisance" animals can be killed at any time of the year resulting in animals being killed when they are tending to their young.
There are no standards by which a "nuisance" animal must be killed. They are often drowned.
Learn more here.

Hounding

Packs of radio collared hounds are set loose to pursue coyotes, bears, bobcats and other wild animals. The hounders are often miles away in their trucks. They have no control over their animals.
Hounders are not required to keep their hounds within direct line of sight or under verbal command, making it impossible to control their behavior.
When a wild animal defends itself, fights ensue, endangering both the hounds and the animal.
Hounds violate landowner rights and cause conflicts with landowners and domestic animals.
Hounds present a danger to people and their pets as evidenced by bear hounds that attacked a couple and their leashed puppy that were hiking public land in Ripton. Another incident in Fairlee involved hounds in pursuit of coyotes viciously attacking a domestic dog.
The hound training season starts on June 1st for most species and runs right through September. This causes mother animals to be separated from their young and places young animals in danger of being killed.

Bear hounding

Black bears are terrorized by hunting hounds for six months out of the year in Vermont (hound training season runs June 1st - Sept 1 and bear hunting season runs Sept 1st through end of Nov).
Bears that are chased during warmer temperatures experience severe physical distress due to their thick fur and fat layer, which they build to survive during hibernation. Overheated bears can die and pregnant bears can lose embryos.
Altercations with hounds can result in injuries or death to bears, particularly cubs. In turn, hounds mauled by bears can suffer broken bones, punctured lungs or other serious injuries.
Hounds chase bears into roadways, where oncoming vehicles could strike either animal.
Hounds are frequently dumped at municipal animal shelters or left in the woods if they do not perform adequately.
Because hounds track bears across large spaces, they invariably pursue and stress non-target animals including deer, moose, small mammals and birds.
Bear hounders cause conflicts with landowners and the public every year.
Bear hounders have killed cubs so any claim that bear hounding allows hounders to be more selective is propaganda. Biologists have found that hunters misidentify the gender of approximately one-third of treed bears.

Talking Points

Nuisance TP

Hounding TP

Bear Hounding

Trapping