Dear editor,
I read with some amusement and disbelief Paul F. Noel’s opinion piece about the Fish & Wildlife Board and S.258, the bill that would allow the 80% of Vermonters who don’t hunt, fish or trap a voice in the treatment of wildlife, which we all can claim ownership of under the Vermont Constitution.
Nothing in the words “Fish & Wildlife Board” says anything about hunting or fishing. It’s talking about the wild animals that live and breed in this state. The Legislature instructed the board to make new rules about trapping and coyote hunting.
Noel’s claim that they followed legislative intent is laughable. Why then did the Legislature disavow the rules, making it possible for aggrieved landowners and pet owners to sue in the case of damages following from the new rules? The Legislature expressed clear disfavor for the rules, notwithstanding Noel’s claim that they exceeded the legislative intent.
He also talks extensively about the hundreds of years of experience on the board. That’s like saying that the tobacco companies had hundreds of years experience in manufacturing cigarettes, so they should have been the ones to regulate them. Or the gun manufacturers. Or the NRA.
If the purpose of the Fish & Wildlife Board is to regulate the hunters, then the hunters are the last people we should be relying on to create the rules.
Barbie Alsop
Burlington
