BILL NUMBER:  S3542

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


 SUMMARY OF 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.

 PURPOSE AND 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 :
This is a new bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATION :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.