Trapping in Defense of Property

There are little protections for wildlife in Vermont that are considered a "nuisance" by landowners. The statute that covers "Wild Animals Doing Damage" is dangerously broad and results in the senseless killing of foxes, beavers, bobcats, and other animals with zero oversight. Property owners and municipalities are not required to report animals killed in defense of property, therefore Vermont Fish & Wildlife has little to no data on the number of animals that are killed each year.

Protect Our Wildlife has tried to work with Vermont Fish & Wildlife to update this law and, despite feigned interest by some at the Department, they've refused to take action. Some of the legislative changes that we proposed were borrowed from our neighboring states of Maine and New Hampshire.

Our recommendations included (among others):

report all furbearers killed under this statute within 48 hours, including what the conflict was
daily trap checks (those killing wildlife under §4828 are exempt from all regulations, except for those receiving compensation like nuisance wildlife control operators)
anyone using leghold or kill traps must have a trapping license so that they're familiar with how to use traps—this is a public safety issue
carcass submission for all otters, fisher and bobcats killed

We also recommended clearer language in the law as to the conditions under which a wild animal may be killed. The way the law is currently written allows for what's essentially an open season. Vermont's law allows landowners and municipalities to kill any furbearer species that they merely suspect to be a problem without any proof of the animal causing damage. The current law allows those who free range their chickens day and night, under zero supervision, to kill a bobcat for showing up without any warden permission or reporting!

We recommended NH's language which states, "A person may pursue, wound or kill, on land owned or occupied by such person, any unprotected bird or wild animal which the person finds in the act of doing actual and substantial damage to poultry, crops, domestic animals, or the person's property, and may authorize a family member, employee, or other person requested to do so under the provision of a depredation permit issued by the executive director pursuant."

This lax law results in tragedies like the case of the red fox who was seen in Hyde Park, Vermont dragging a leghold trap from her leg for days before she was captured and euthanized due to her injuries. It's suspected that the landowner was unfamiliar with how to set traps which resulted in the fox pulling the trap out of the ground. The landowner claimed that he was trying to trap a fox who was getting into his chicken coop, but there's no proof that the fox who was gravely injured was even the fox he was targeting. Landowners are not required to hold a trapping license to trap on their property under this statute (trapping in defense of property), so they may be totally unfamiliar with how to use leghold and body gripping kill traps, which only adds to the animal's suffering.

Also, animals are often killed at times of year when they're tending to their young, which results in their offspring becoming orphaned. The fox kits pictured below were orphaned when a homeowner killed their mother. They were thankfully brought to a licensed VT wildlife rehabilitator. Below photo credit: Howling Mountain Wildlife Rescue

People may hire "nuisance" wildlife control operators (NWCOs) thinking that the animal will be humanely caught in a cage trap and relocated since NWCOs rarely explain their methods. The reality is that when NWCOs remove an animal from a location, the animal is killed off site since relocation is not allowed under law.

Prior to legislation that we helped pass in 2018, NWCOs did not even have to possess a VT trapping license. There was a bill before the legislature, H.262, that sought to require training and other requirements for NWCOs, but that bill was never enacted. A NWCO set a trap to kill beavers in Proctorsville and ended up trapping a great blue heron by the leg in a leghold trap. The animal's leg was so badly injured that it was euthanized. Tragedies like this are not uncommon.

The only humane NWCO that we are aware of is HEART Wildlife out of Burlington. We highly recommend their services! You can learn more about them HERE.