Beaver-bashing
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:
ALBANY, N.Y.––The New York
Department of Environmental Conservation
plans to ease beaver trapping rules in
Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties, per-
haps as early as March. The beaver trapping
season officially ends April 16, but in the
two-county “nuisance zone” landowners
will be allowed to trap beaver year-round
without a permit; will be allowed to use
cable snares, which are cheaper and there-
fore easier to place in large numbers as well
as more easily replaced if they get lost; may
set traps on dens, rather than at least five
feet away; and will be allowed to bait
beavers to specific areas before setting traps.
According to Joseph Brown, pres-
ident of the beaver protection group Friends
of Beaversprite, the NYDEC has made little
effort to learn nonlethal tactics of control-
ling beaver damage.
Letters opposing the relaxed trap-
ping rules may be addressed to DEC
Commissioner Landon Marsh, 50 Wolf
Road, Albany, NY 12233; and Governor
George Pataki, Executive Chambers,
Albany, NY 12224.
