Morning Read 2: Free Pete the Moose!
Now here’s an environmental cause that Vermonters can rally around. Lawmakers are set to reverse a controversial law that made prisoners of wildlife on one Northeast Kingdom farm.
This from the Burlington Free Press:
Key lawmakers and Gov.-elect Peter Shumlin are ready to reverse a 2010 law drafted in secret and passed at the 11th hour that gave an Northeast Kingdom farmer ownership of wild deer and moose on his property, an action that provoked an outcry among hunters.
A bill already in draft form restates the longstanding principle that wild animals belong to all people of Vermont. It requires the wild deer and moose trapped inside Doug Nelson’s elk hunting park to be removed, probably through hunting. It also allows for protection of young Pete the Moose, an orphaned resident of the park.
The clash actually contains some pretty interesting political shenanigans, as well as a clash between Vermont’s hunters and farming community over how open space should be managed. Read the full article here.
