Victory for Vermont Animals!

Thanks to YOUR advocacy, we had several huge legislative wins and advances for animals in the 2023/2024 legislative session

H.626, an Act Related to Animal Welfare, was signed by the Governor on June 10th

This new law will make our state’s animal cruelty response system better for animals, better for Vermonters and better for government. The original proposal to develop and fund an Animal Welfare Division within the Department of Public Safety was narrowed down to one position for an Animal Welfare Director, fully funded by an increase in the rabies surcharge collected when dogs are licensed. The director will be charged with doing the research needed to eventually stand up a division. The bill also redefines who has the authority to enforce Vermont’s criminal animal cruelty statute and assigns that duty exclusively to law enforcement or animal control officers employed by law enforcement agencies.

301, an Act Related to Miscellaneous Agriculture Subjects, was signed by the Governor on May 30th

The new law includes two important animal welfare measures:

  • An animal welfare and consumer protection provision that will prohibit the sale of dogs, cats and wolf-hybrids in additional pet stores here in Vermont, preventing the “puppy mill pipeline” in our state. This law is crucially important to stop bad actors from moving into Vermont who have track records of animal welfare and consumer protection issues, including New York puppy stores—50 of whom will have to stop selling puppies by December when their humane pet store law goes into effect.
  • A prohibition on the sale and trade of bear parts, including their gallbladders and paws. The demand for both bear bile and bear paws is driven by the belief that these items have medicinal qualities. During public hearings the Vermont game warden service testified that because these items weren’t currently prohibited for trade and sale, that people would travel from out-of-state to purchase these highly valued items from Vermont bear hunters and resell them. Vermont will no longer be complicit to the trafficking of these animals for their “parts”.

258, an Act Related to the Management of Fish and Wildlife, passed the Senate but stalled in the House.

This life-saving bill would have banned the cruel practice of coyote hounding and baiting and add much-needed diversity to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board. Even though the bill didn’t pass, the wildlife advocacy movement dominated the news media outlets and our unified message calling for the need for change was heard loud and clear. Every email you sent and phone call you made sent a very clear message to legislators: Vermonters care about wildlife! Join VHF member Protect Our Wildlife’s action alerts for what’s in store on these issues by signing up securely here: https://www.protectourwildlifevt.org/subscribe