BILL NUMBER:S4213

TITLE OF BILL:

An act
to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the
regulation of live restraint cable devices to take wildlife

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of this bill amends ECL
§11-1101(5) to authorize the DEC to allow the use of live restraint
cable devices for the trapping of wildlife.

Section 2 of this bill provides for an immediate effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:
The bill authorizes the use of live restraint devices
for trapping, which operate on the same principle as a "linked"
relaxing dog collar: when the animal pulls on the cable, the loop
closes down; when the animal stops pulling, the loop relaxes.
Consequently, animals captured in these devices typically show little
or any injury.

These restraint devices have been thoroughly studied by several state
              

agencies, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and the u.S.
Department of Agriculture. They are currently allowed to be used in 38
states and most Canadian provinces. Recently, Missouri (2004),
Wisconsin (2004), Michigan (2005), and Pennsylvania (2005) changed
their trapping regulations to allow the use of cable restraints.
These initiatives were based largely on the new research done in
support of the development of best management practices (BMPs) for
trapping. All of these states have habitats, trapping conditions, and
furbearer species that are comparable to those of New York.

As coyotes continue to move into developed areas and are trapped to
control their populations, the possibility of trapping incidents
involving domestic dogs may increase. The live-restraint devices are
preferred by trappers and DEC in such circumstances because if a
domestic dog were accidentally captured, it could be easily released
with little or no injury. Cable restraints are also highly effective
for capturing coyotes and are used by researchers throughout the
country to catch coyotes for radio telemetry studies.

Cable restraints have been approved by a number of institutional
animal care and use committees pursuant to the Federal Animal Welfare
Act, and are used by researchers at both Cornell University and the
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in support of
Department-sponsored research. The specific mandate of these
committees is to assure that the proposed capture techniques (i.e.,
cable restraints) are humane and consistent with animal welfare
requirements. While cable devices are relatively simple, there are a
number of very specific design features that are essential to their
proper and humane functioning. These include the use of specific


cable designs to assure proper closing and "relaxing," the use of
"stops" to prevent the loop from closing too tightly, and the fitting
of "relaxing lock" systems to ensure that the loop relaxes once an
animal stops pulling. These technical requirements will be
established by DEC rulemaking.
DEC will regularly revise its regulations to specify new requirements
as improvements in design and function of cable restraints are tested
and approved.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.