Hee ya go sir, The AP story...

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Locke asks Fish and Wildlife to turn blind eye on parts of trapping ban


By PAUL QUEARY
The Associated Press
5/21/03 9:50 PM


OLYMPIA (AP) -- Gov. Gary Locke wants the Department of Fish and Wildlife to turn a blind eye to some violations of the state's voter-approved trapping ban.

In a letter to the chairman of the state's Fish and Wildlife Commission, Locke asked for help in reining in some of the most troublesome parts of the initiative -- even after vetoing a virtual repeal.

"DFW should place its limited enforcement resources into higher-order priorities than against homeowners, businesses and the timber industry that trap for moles, gophers and mountain beavers," Locke wrote in a letter to Will Roehl, chairman of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission, which oversees the department.

The letter has opponents of the ban crying foul, saying Locke is looking out for the people who voted for Initiative 713 in 2000 and ignoring the the rural areas where its impact has been felt keenly by farmers and ranchers.

"While the primarily urban and suburban voters who supported the initiative now have an exemption to go out and kill moles and gophers in their front yards, the ban remains for the farmers and ranchers who largely voted against the initiative," said Dean Boyer, a spokesman for the Farm Bureau, a vocal opponent of the ban.

In fact, there has been little enforcement of the initiative since its passage in 2000, say department officials. Nobody has ever been fined, and the department's enforcement officers concentrate on poaching, fisheries violations and other higher-priority matters, Roehl said.

Most complaints about trapping are dealt with by informing the violator of the law, said Capt. Steve Dauma, who was charged with overseeing the implementation of the law.

"We have never gone out and emphasized kicking over the plastic buckets turned upside down in people's yards," Dauma said. Such buckets are often used to veil illegal mole traps.

Locke also asked Roehl to direct the department to implement a program to let ranchers trap to protect livestock during the calving and lambing seasons, when coyotes can be particularly destructive. The program would be within the initiative's existing allowance for special permits to deal with problem wildlife.

A similar idea was part of a modest revision of I-713 that died in the state House a few weeks ago, despite the support of the Humane Society of the United States, the initiative's chief backer.

"The initiative allows people to do what they need to do to protect their livestock," said Lisa Wathne, regional director for the society.

Wathne's attempts to exclude moles and gophers from the ban and make other changes have been repeatedly blocked by those who want the entire initiative repealed to allow more trapping of larger animals that damage livestock, crops and trees.

Boyer said he was encouraged by Locke's acknowledgement of the coyote problem, but said it fails to deal with the initiative's impact on other forms of agriculture, such as beaver damage to fruit trees.

The sale of fur is a key question, because allowing trappers to sell the pelts lowers landowners' costs for getting rid of the animals and generally increases the incentive to trap.

The bill Locke vetoed on Tuesday would have reinstated the legal trade in fur from animals trapped to address animal problems, for scientific research and for population control.

Roehl and the Department of Fish and Wildlife had urged Locke to sign the bill, arguing that wildlife managers need trapping as a tool.

"We thought it was a reasonable compromise that would meet everybody's needs," said Roehl, who said the commission would consider Locke's request.

"We clearly can't do something that's beyond the law," Roehl said. "We can try to address issues as best we can under the existing laws, and that's what we'll try to do."

However, it may not be that simple. Opponents of the ban may try to force the department to enforce the letter of the law as a tactic to spark a complete repeal.

"The governor took an oath to uphold the laws of the state of Washington," said Ed Owens, a lobbyist for trapping, fishing and hunting interests and the main opponent of I-713. "For him to even imply that a law on the books ought to be ignored is outrageous."


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