Posted by:
troy h
at Mon Apr 23 12:04:33 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by troy h ]
Any hunting from a public road may create a potential traffic hazard and safety concern.
If this is a concern, I would like to see the data supporting this assertion. Please make available # of accidents resulting from "hunting from a public road" by herpers from 2001-2006. Also, please make available the # of traffic citations issued to herpers during the act of hunting from a public road over the same time period. If TPWD cannot come up with hard data - numbers (and they cannot) then this cannot be used to justify this legislation.
House Bill 2414 HCS, prohibits the hunting of a wild animal or wild bird from the public road or rights of way. The bill does not apply to the trapping of a raptor for educational or sporting purposes as provided by Chapter 49, Texas Parks and Wildlife Code. An offense will be a Parks and Wildlife Code Class C misdemeanor.
I must ask why raptors have been excluded from this legislation while recreational herpers have not. Is it simply because Falconers have a stronger lobby or they are friends with someone influential? By excluding falconers but including herpers, this new legislation is unfairly discriminatory.
Much of nongame wildlife collection on public roads and rights of way is for commercial purposes. This bill would stop this aspect of nongame collection on public roads and rights of way.
TPWD Wildlife Diversity has collected data on commercial reptile and amphibian collection since 1998. Please request from them the data to support this contention. Ask them how many nongame commercial collectors there are in the state, how many of them collect from roadways, and what are the numbers of these nongame animals that are collected from roadways. They may be able to tell you something about the numbers of collectors, but they have no data to support the claim that "much of the nongame wildlife collection on public roads . . . is for commercial purposes" - the data that TPWD requires to be reported only asks for "County of Collection", and does not specify whether or not the animals were collected from roadways. Therefore this assertion must be regarded as unsubstantiated.
This bill would create a wildlife sanctuary where collection would be prohibited.
On Texas highways, last year I found 134 road killed snakes alone (not counting lizards, turtles, frogs, and salamanders). In 2005, I found 271 road killed snakes and in 2004 I found 253 road killed snakes. These data alone clearly illustrate that Texas highways are in no way, shape, or form, a "wildlife sanctuary".
Troy
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My dissection of same response - troy h, Mon Apr 23 12:04:33 2007