Input from public sought on proposed changes to furbearer rule

The Director of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish will conduct a listening session to hear public comments on proposed changes to the furbearer rule.

Those proposed changes include mandatory trapper education, increasing set-back requirements, allowance for closure of areas to trapping, signage and further clarifying the definition of a trail.

The listening session will be conducted from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 27, at the department’s Northwest Regional Office, 7816 Alamo Road NW, Albuquerque.

Complaints about dogs and nontarget fur-bearing animals being caught in traps, injured or killed have been a point of contention in Lincoln County and in Grant County where objections were raised against steel-jaw leg traps is the Gila National Forest, where many people hike with their pets. Ranchers contend control of predators is essential for the economic viability of their operations.

Comments can be provided by mail to New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Attn: Furbearer Rule Development, P.O. Box 25112, Santa Fe, NM 87504; by email, ispa@state.nm.us, or in person at the meeting.

According to department data, the total number of of animals harvested in 2017-1018 included 129 American badgers, 73 beavers, 1m814 bobcat, 2,353 grey fox, 81 kit fox, 140 red fox, 39 swift fox, 22 muskrat, 415 raccoon and 119 ringtail.