Vt. opts for captive hunting regulation

Hunting parks exist in New England where hunters can pay to bag a moose. (N.h. Division of travel and tourism)

Excerpts from the Globe's environmental blog.

I have always associated private game parks with Africa - those places where you can make a trophy kill of everything from wildebeest to lions in an enclosed area.

Yet such captive hunting parks - which have long drawn the ire of animal lovers - also exist in New England where hunters can pay for the privilege of bagging a native bear, moose, deer, or even an exotic Russian boar, or Spanish goat in a fenced in area.

While such hunting parks have been around for decades, they are back in the news with Vermont's Fish and Wildlife Board's recent decision to regulate captive hunting. The new rules prohibit any new preserves from opening in Vermont and requires the two existing ones to apply for permits and limits what kinds of animals they can have on site.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, Vermont will become the 24th state to regulate or ban game preserves. In New England, Rhode Island has an outright ban on such preserves while New Hampshire and Massachusetts have some restrictions on the practice. Maine, however, allows such preserves with no regulation. The society has identified close to dozen such parks there.

While the Humane Society is against hunting in general "we focus resources on egregious forms of wildlife abuse and captive hunting is right up there," said Joanne Bourbeau, New England regional director of the Humane Society.

She said the animals in such parks have little fear of humans and shooting them could hardly be called a sport. The emergence of disease is also higher in captive areas where population numbers tend to be denser than in the wild.

According to local news reports, the captive hunting issue has been debated for 10 years in Vermont, culminating in the new rule.

Anglers must get saltwater licenses

When the federal government announced last spring that recreational fishing in saltwater would require a license by 2009, Northeast fishermen vehemently protested.

Of the 23 coastal states, only the seven stretching from Maine to New Jersey, plus Hawaii, do not require licenses for saltwater recreational fishing. Northeast anglers have long held a deep-seated belief that fishing on the ocean should always be free - and previous attempts to charge for the privilege in Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut have all failed in recent years.

Now, new rules recently published in the Federal Register say the program will go forward - but not until 2010 to allow states to develop saltwater fishermen registries. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials say fishermen will have to start paying an estimated $15 to $25 for a license in 2011.

BETH DALEY