Testimony in Support
LD 276, An Act To Require a Game Warden’s Certificate To Kill Wild Animals Causing Damage to Crops or Orchards and Notification to Nearby Residents
Before the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Presented by David Trahan, Executive Director, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine
February 14, 2017
Senator Cyrway, Representative Duchesne, distinguished members of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, my name is David Trahan and I am representing the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine testifying in support of LD 276, An Act To Require a Game Warden’s Certificate To Kill Wild Animals Causing Damage to Crops or Orchards and Notification to Nearby Residents
The permitting system for landowners to kill nuisance animals needs reform. Our organization believes the systems needs to be accountable for several reasons. Getting information about how many animals and what type are being killed each year is very difficult. In addition, the leasing of fields and crop lands by farmers is expanding, many of the land owners particularly from out of state don’t understand that when they give permission for their land to be farmed that these same farmers are killing deer, turkeys and other wildlife on their property. I have personally witnessed people bragging about shooting deer and killing turkeys on farmer’s land with these special permits. Just recently I reported a complaint to Inland Fisheries and Wildlife about an individual bragging about shooting two deer with one shot in a farmer’s orchard. The problem in that situation is it was in late December, long after the harvest season.
Last year the legislature passed a law clarifying that hunting and trapping were the preferred methods of managing consumptive wildlife. The same language should apply when dealing with nuisance animals and right now we don’t believe there is a system in place that ensures all management tools using hunters and trappers are used prior to issuing permits. We would like to see the committee take a comprehensive look at the Department’s program that allows farmers to kill unlimited wildlife. You could start by asking for the department to supply the committee with data going back a couple years on the number of animals killed, where they were, and how many people have permission to kill animals on farmer’s property. The last piece of information would be whether that land is open to hunting and trapping? If not, why?