More than half of states already have a full or partial ban on captive hunting.
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island — Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee has signed into law a bill that would make the state the latest to ban “captive hunting,” hunting that occurs within a structure designed to restrict the free movement of animals and prevent them from escaping.
More than half of states already have a full or partial ban on captive hunting.
The new law prohibits the use of natural or artificial barriers intended to prevent animals from fleeing the confined hunting area in Rhode Island. Private lands established as hunting or shooting preserves, or hunting ranches, are included in the law.
The legislation also states that no species of animal may be imported or captured for use in captive hunting. The bill was first proposed after a sporting club requested permission to import exotic animals, such as elk and wild boar, for members to hunt on its property in the state.
The new law would not apply to the release of domestic game birds on public property or on private property authorized by the state Department of Environmental Management as game land for hunting purposes.
State Rep. Scott Slater, a Democrat, was one of the bill’s sponsors. Slater said physically preventing an animal from escaping death is not hunting.
Slater said he doesn’t know “a single active hunter who thinks such practices are acceptable.”
Joanne Bourbeau, Northeast regional director for the Humane Society of the United States, said killing animals for trophies and bragging rights is unacceptable.
“The captive trophy hunting industry raises animals solely to shoot them inside fenced enclosures,” he said after lawmakers passed the bill earlier this month. “This critical legislation would allow Rhode Island to join the 26 other states that already have full or partial bans on captive hunting.”
McKee also signed a second bill into law aimed at updating protocols for reporting car accidents involving wildlife and for collecting the resulting roadkill for consumption.
The new law expands deer collision reporting requirements to any accident involving wildlife that substantially damages the vehicle, such as collisions with turkeys or bears.
It also makes it easier for drivers to report these collisions by allowing them to report directly to the Department of Environmental Management through an online portal or phone number instead of having to contact a conservation officer.
Environmental officials use data from wildlife strikes in statistical models to estimate wildlife populations. The new law allows the state to rescue unwanted roadkill for general consumption.
Currently, only parties directly involved in the collision can rescue deer for their own enjoyment. The change allows wildlife rescued from a collision to be used by organizations or individuals that have the capacity to process it.
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