Bill Text: NJ ACR175 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

New Jersey Assembly Concurrent Resolution 175 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Urges DEP to replace current lethal population control methods for foxes on Brigantine Island with non-lethal deterrence methods.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-07 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee [ACR175 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2018-ACR175-Introduced.html

ASSEMBLY CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 175

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

218th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED JUNE 7, 2018

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman DANIEL R. BENSON

District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)

SYNOPSIS

Urges DEP to replace current lethal population control methods for foxes on Brigantine Island with non-lethal deterrence methods.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

As introduced.

A Concurrent Resolution opposing the Department of Environmental Protection for its current use of lethal methods to control the Brigantine Island fox population and urging the department to replace its methods with non-lethal deterrence methods.

Whereas, Red foxes thrive throughout the State and are iconic wildlife to many residents of the State; and

Whereas, Red foxes have enjoyed particular appreciation on the island of Brigantine where the fox has been the island's unofficial mascot; and

Whereas, Scientific studies have determined that the mass or indiscriminate killing of native carnivores, such as through culling, bounties, or wildlife killing contests, is inhumane and is not an effective means of mitigating conflicts with imperiled wildlife species, pets, livestock, or humans; and

Whereas, The Department of Environmental Protection has been trapping foxes by using snares or shooting the foxes in an attempt to protect the nests of endangered birds such as the piping plover and the populations of other migrating birds such as the red knot; and

Whereas, Disturbing video of piles of dead foxes found on the beach and in sand dunes has raised a public outcry against this policy; and

Whereas, The snare traps used have long been considered inhumane; and

Whereas, It is contradictory to the mission of the Department of Environmental Protection to unnecessarily and cruelly decimate one population of wildlife for the sake of another when other methods of protection exist, now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (the Senate concurring):

1. The Department of Environmental Protection is urged to end its current policies for controlling the Brigantine fox population, and replace its lethal methods with non-lethal deterrence methods.

2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate to the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and to the governing body of the City of Brigantine in Atlantic County.

STATEMENT

This resolution opposes the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for its current methods of controlling the Brigantine fox population and urges the department to replace its lethal methods with non-lethal deterrence methods. Foxes have enjoyed particular appreciation on the island of Brigantine where the fox has been the island's unofficial mascot, and disturbing video of piles of dead foxes on the beach and in sand dunes has recently raised a public outcry against the DEP's current methods of population control.