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DEC proposes new regulations to prohibit hunting, trapping of free-range Eurasian boars in New York

Posted 12/27/13

The Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing new regulations that would prohibit hunting or trapping of free-ranging Eurasian boars in New York. DEC Commissioner Joe Martens says the …

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DEC proposes new regulations to prohibit hunting, trapping of free-range Eurasian boars in New York

Posted

The Department of Environmental Conservation is proposing new regulations that would prohibit hunting or trapping of free-ranging Eurasian boars in New York.

DEC Commissioner Joe Martens says the proposal is designed to ensure maximum effectiveness of DEC’s statewide eradication efforts.

Officials say hunters pursuing wild boars in locations where baited traps have been established by DEC or USDA can undermine these costly and labor-intensive capture efforts. Shooting may remove one or two animals but the rest of the sounder scatters and rarely comes back together as a group, thereby hampering eradication efforts.

In addition to prohibiting take of free-ranging swine by hunters, the proposed regulation would prohibit anyone from disturbing traps set for wild boars or otherwise interfering with Eurasian boar eradication activities. Hunting wild boar can be done at hunting preserves until 2015.

Public comments on the proposed regulations will be accepted until Jan. 25, 2014.

Gov. Cuomo signed legislation on Oct. 21, 2013, which immediately prohibited the importation, breeding or introduction to the wild of any Eurasian boars.

Furthermore, the law prohibits possession, sale, transport or marketing of live Eurasian boars as of Sept. 1, 2015.

Officials say the new law was an essential step in the state’s efforts to prevent Eurasian boars from becoming established in the wild.

The proposed regulations provide necessary exceptions for state and federal wildlife agencies, law enforcement agencies, and others who are authorized by DEC to take Eurasian boar to alleviate nuisance, property damage, or threats to public health or welfare.

Commissioner Martens encouraged anyone who observes a Eurasian boar (dead or alive) in the wild in New York to report it as soon as possible to the nearest DEC regional wildlife office or to: fwwildlf@gw.dec.state.ny.us and include “Feral Swine” in the subject line.

Text of the proposed regulation was published in the New York State Register on Dec. 11, 2013. The full text of the regulation change and instructions for submitting comments can be found on DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/34113.html. Comments on the proposed regulations can be sent by email to WildlifeRegs@gw.dec.state.ny.us or mailed to: Kelly Stang, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4754. Hard copies of the full text may be requested from the same address listed above.