[MCN] Trapping Bills Alert!

Mon Jan 25 00:10:10 EST 2021

[image: LOGOfootloose sign pro.jpg]

*TRAPPING BILLS ALERT!*

*Please Oppose HB 224 and HB 225*

*Montana House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee*

*Sponsor: Rep. Paul Fielder*

*HB 224 *

*• Allow snaring of wolves*

*    HB 225 *

*• Lengthen wolf-trapping season by a month, with adjustments based on 
regional recommendations;*

*• Forbid F & W Commission to prohibit hunting or trapping of wolves 
adjacent to national parks unless quota met. *

Dear Friends,

Please speak out against these bills! Write letters to the editor, call 
House Committee members and your representatives (info below), spread the 
word. Hearings will be scheduled shortly. Wolves need you now. Thank you 
for your help.

Tell your story, use your words. Here are main points:

                                       HB 224 
<https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/billhtml/HB0224.htm>* – Allow snaring of 
wolves*

1.    HB 224 would exponentially increase the number of snares on Montana’s 
lands. Sold by the dozen, wolf snares cost less than $3.00 each. The 
bycatch will be horses, hunting hounds, working dogs, livestock, and 
wildlife, especially elk, deer and mountain lions.

2.    If HB 224 passes, the state of Montana will be liable for human 
injury, injury and consequent death of horses, livestock, working dogs and 
hounds caused by wolf snares. 

3.    Public safety is at highly elevated risk with wolf snares. People 
already fear going on public lands because of traps and snares. Wolf snares 
threaten to kill companion animals and harm children, effectively 
privatizing our public lands for a fraction of a percent of the population. 
This hurts our economy and undermines our right to access our public lands 
without the threat of injury and death from snares. 

4.    Wolves are the best defense against highly contagious Chronic Wasting 
Disease. Wolves can smell CWD prions and take the sick animals, reducing 
the spread of this epidemic disease. Arguments that wolf scat can spread 
the disease are false: ungulates do not go near wolf scat. Extra hunts to 
reduce game populations are random and have no known effect on containing 
CWD. Wolves contain CWD. Exterminating wolves advances CWD.

5.    The purpose of this bill is to eradicate the wolf population and turn 
Montana into a game farm for trophy hunters. Montana is revered for its 
diverse wildlife population, a source of important revenue from wildlife 
watching, the number one reason people visit our great state. A diversity 
of species helps a natural balance and keeps rodent populations in check. 
The wolf is a keystone species, essential for this balance. Killing off 
wolves allows rodent and coyote populations to multiply quickly.

6.    Wolves are a minor player in the reduced elk population in the 
mountains of western Montana. Two recent deep snowfall winters and too many 
outfitters in the same drainages reduced the elk population. Hunters expect 
a convenience store, this is nature. The claim that wolves have driven elk 
down from the high country to private lands is a fairy tale. Wolves can’t 
maneuver in high country deep snow. Elk go to the haystacks on private land 
for food. The same claim was made in the Bitterroot, and a study revealed 
that mountain lions, not wolves, took more elk (still, less than 20). More 
importantly, the reduction in elk was due to 5 years of shoulder hunting 
seasons of elk to appease the ranchers who complained that elk were eating 
all their hay. 

7.     Ranchers know that healthy riparian zones mean healthy land and 
water for livestock and farming. Wolves restore riparian zones. Without 
them, erosion and grazing by cattle and game animals desiccate the 
landscape, resulting in less food, less water. 

HB 225 <https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2021/billpdf/HB0225.pdf>* – Lengthen wolf 
trapping season by a month, allowing for adjustments based on regional 
recommendations.*

*Disallow closing of wolf hunting and trapping adjacent to national parks 
unless quota is met.*

1.    Wolf trapping season is already 2.5 months long, Dec.15 – Feb 28.  HB 
255 would make it 3.5 months, Nov. 26 – March 15. There is no reason given 
for this; it is simply to eradicate wolves for special interest groups: 
trappers, ranchers and trophy hunters. Wolves belong to everybody; laws 
should reflect this.

2.    *Allowing “adjustments based on regional recommendations” means 
anything goes, particularly advantageous to Region 1, where the Fish, 
Wildlife and Parks officials are outspoken about hating wolves and loving 
trapping. With this caveat, there is no limit on wolf trapping, it can be 
year round. *This undermines any wildlife management. It is only about 
killing all the wolves, based on no proven reason. 

3.     Wolf traps are indiscriminate. They maim and kill many other 
species, particularly mountain lions, whose feet and toes are commonly 
found in wolf traps. There is no way to know how many mountain lions starve 
to death because of trap injuries. If wildlife management is mandated to 
err on the side of wildlife protection, how can wolf trapping and snaring 
be acceptable? 

4.    There were 109,500 elk in MT when wolves were reintroduced in 1995. 
Today there are more than 134,557 elk in MT, 25% over objective. Killing 
wolves for the sake of killing is unethical, destructive to conservation 
and unacceptable.

5.    In areas adjacent to national parks, forbidding the Fish and Wildlife 
Commission to prohibit hunting or trapping of wolves, and prohibit closing 
wolf trapping and hunting areas is the Montana Trappers Association’s 
self-serving attempt to ban any reasonable protections for our wildlife. 
It’s a backlash against the Commission’s reduction of wolf trapping next to 
Yellowstone in 2020. Trappers ring Yellowstone and Glacier Parks with 
traps. Yellowstone wolves, famous the world over, should have a buffer zone 
by the boundary. HB 225 is akin to fishing in a barrel, except wolves are 
our keystone species who have revitalized Yellowstone Park, allowing the 
return of beavers, birds and healthy riparian areas for all wildlife. They 
can do the same for Montana if we have the sense and decency to let them. 

6.    All these wolf-killing bills, there are more to come, are about 
destruction of our wildlife. There is no respect for wolves’ critically 
important place in our natural world, no consideration for the majority of 
Montanans who embrace the return of wolves, no interest in reducing 
unnecessary suffering and death of our wildlife, and a complete disregard 
for Montana’s economy.

7.    Talking points 4-7 for HB 224 above apply to HB 225, and all the wolf 
bills coming that have the same goals: eradicate wolves and take over Fish, 
Wildlife and Parks.

These bills have not been scheduled for a hearing but that comes up fast.  
It is urgent to write letters to the editor now (please see attachment for 
contact info), and to contact members of the legislature. Your voice 
counts. Thank you for speaking out for Montana wolves and wildlife!  

*How to contact your legislators:*

https://leg.mt.gov/legislator-lookup/

*How to contact members of the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee:*

The most effective way to reach the committee is by calling several 
individual members or emailing them, and testifying in person or by phone 
at the hearing. 

1.    To call in to speak at the hearing: 
https://leg.mt.gov/public-testimony/. You must do this by noon the day 
before the hearing.

2.    You can call and leave a message for a legislator or entire committee 
anytime: 406-444-4800.

3. Show up at the hearing. You can find out when and where here: 
http://laws.leg.mt.gov/legprd/law0203w$.startup?P_SESS=20211

*TO SEND A DETAILED MESSAGE TO ENTIRE COMMITTEE*

            • Go to leg.mt.gov 

            • Scroll down and click on “Send A Web Message to a 
Legislator/Committee”

            • Fill out Form and Choose committee button, then choose House 
Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee, and follow instructions.

*Montana HOUSE FISH, WILDLIFE AND PARKS COMMITTEE 2021*

 Fitzgerald, Ross (R) – Chair

406-467-2032

Ross.fitzgerald at mtleg.gov

Duram, Neil (R) ‑ Vice Chair

406-471-2356

Neil.duram at mtleg.gov

Farris‑Olsen, Robert (D) ‑ Vice Chair

406-794-4780

Robformontana at gmail.com

Berglee, Seth (R)

406-690-9329

Seth.berglee at mtleg.gov

Fielder, Paul (R)

406-210-5943

Paulfielder at blackfoot.net

France, Tom (D)

406-396-5085

Tom.france at mtleg.gov

Hinkle, Jedediah (R)

406-585-0782

Jedediah.hinkle at mtleg.gov

Knudsen, Rhonda (R)

406-489-5253

Rhonda.knudsen at mtleg.gov

Loge, Denley (R)

406-649-2368

Denleylogehd14 at gmail.com

Marler, Marilyn (D)

406-544-7189

Marilyn.marler at mtleg.gov

Mitchell, Braxton (R)

406-314-9474

braxtonmmitchell at gmail.com <Braxton.mitchell at mtleg.gov>

Novak, Sara (D)

406-691-0069

Novak4hd77 at gmail.com 

Phalen, Bob (R)

406-939-1187

Bob.phalen at mtleg.gov

Putnam, Brian (R)

406-233-9463

Brian.putnam at mtleg.gov

Reksten, Linda (R)

406-471-8359

Reksten4mthouse at gmail.com

Running Wolf, Tyson (D)

406-845-2115

trwolves at gmail.com

Seekins‑Crowe, Kerri (R)

406-208-6587

Kerri4mt at gmail.com

Weatherwax, Marvin (D)

406-338-7741

repmarvinwwaxjr at gmail.com

*To Write Letters to the Editor please see attachment for contact 
information. Thank You!*

For the animals, 

Connie Poten

Footloose Montana

PO Box 8884

Missoula, MT 59807

406-549-4647
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