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The Utah Wildlife Board shot down a proposal Tuesday to increase the requirement for trappers running nonlethal traplines to check the devices from every 48 hours to once every 96 hours at its monthly meeting in Salt Lake City.
The board also approved an increase of 53 more black-bear hunting permits for 2011, ignoring pleas from some hunters not to do so, and addressed public-safety concerns about the controversial issue of bear baiting by requiring GPS coordinates for each station.
"Every e-mail, every personal contact I've had on this issue has been opposed to it," board member Ernie Perkins said before making a motion to leave the current mandatory check for nonlethal traps alone.
The proposal for increasing the length of the required trap check emerged from a Regional Wildlife Advisory Council meeting held in the central region. The idea came from Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife (SFW) to allow trappers, specifically those seeking coyotes, more time to make a check of their traplines.
The extra time may have encouraged more trappers to get involved and that, in turn, could have led to more coyotes being killed. That is important, SFW leaders say, because coyotes are the main predator of Utah's struggling deer herds.
Justin Dolling, game-mammals coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife, said the state wildlife agency could not support the change because the coyotes were not the only animals trapped.
"We recognize what the proposal is trying to accomplish, but we can't support it. Coyotes are unprotected wildlife, but any changes to the rule apply to all species that might be caught. That could include protected species like bobcat, gray fox and kit fox," Dolling said. "If it is extended to seven days, the likelihood of being able to release untargeted animals is greatly reduced. No one wants to see animals suffer and I include coyotes in that as well. With seven days the likelihood of suffering does increase."
Debbie Pappas, of Second Chance Wildlife Rehabilitation in Price, told the board about the many animals she has had brought to her that had been found in traps.
"Forty-eight hours for an eagle is not good. You are ripping your leg off after 48 hours, but there is a good chance I can put you back together," she said. "But after 72 hours there is nothing left to rehabilitate."
The 53 additional black-bear permits for 2011 boosted the total to 419. Members of the Utah Houndsman's Association, one of the main groups that hunts bears, said they were concerned about continued increases in the number of hunting tags. Dolling countered that data show the population can handle the increase.