HARTFORD, Conn. – A state online survey being conducted to collect public feedback about hunting, sport shooting and trapping in Connecticut has ignited a blistering debate about the morality of hunting and whether it should still be permitted.

Hundreds of comments have been posted to the web forum, hosted by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, since it was announced Dec. 17. The overwhelming majority have focused on DEEP’s questions about hunting, including whether people approve or disapprove of the practice and whether enough public land is set aside for hunting and trapping.

While some commenters have posted statements about hunting and trapping playing an important role in wildlife management, others have fired back, arguing the activity is immoral and there are nonlethal options for wildlife management, such as sterilization. The online debate at www.cttownhall.org has become heated at times, with barbs traded about whether humans have the right to kill animals or whether opponents have the right to take away hunting from those who’ve enjoyed it for generations.

Rick Jacobson, director of DEEP’s wildlife division, said the back-and-forth debate is not particularly helpful, but acknowledges the agency is still interested in learning about how hunters and nonhunters feel about the practice. The town hall forum is part of a major research study being conducted by DEEP’s Conservation Education and Firearms Safety Program and will remain available for comment until Jan. 8. Responses will eventually be included in a five-year plan being developed for the wildlife division.

“We are interested in both hunters’ perceptions of how we use hunting as a conservation management tool and how the broader public feels about that tool,” he said. “We serve all of the public, so it’s important to see where all of the public is coming from.”

DEEP hopes to gauge the need for firearms and hunter safety education, as well as interest in hunting and sport shooting opportunities. So far, many commenters have suggested things like bear and bobcat hunting seasons, more public land to hunt, expanded Sunday hunting opportunities, an expanded coyote trapping season, more public ranges for archery and shooting, and more firearms safety and hunting education programs across the state.

But the feistiest comments have focused on the morality of hunting.

“I think this forum might at least demonstrate that hunters may have been a very vocal minority until now and that’s changing,” said Amy Harrell, president of Connecticut Votes for Animals, a group that encouraged its members to participate in the online forum to gain the attention of DEEP and elected officials.

Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals, contends DEEP should instead be teaching the public how to coexist with wildlife rather than listening to a small group of people “who want bigger bags of dead ducks.”

Bob Crook, executive director of the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, said trained DEEP biologists are the ones who’ve determined certain animal populations need to be managed. Without private hunters, he said the state would still have to pay professionals to cull the herds to ensure a sustainable population.

Crook, a veteran lobbyist at the state Capitol, admits he’s surprised by the intensity of DEEP’s online debate.

“I expected something like this to happen, to have one or two or three animal rights people come up with solutions and call us murderers and stuff like that,” he said. “But I didn’t expect it to explode like it did.”

Copy the Story Link