Bill Text: NY S07927 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Protects wolves by requiring animals which could be wolves be submitted for a DNA test and, when determined to be wolves, requiring the department take action to protect wolves from being taken in the future.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-01 - PRINT NUMBER 7927A [S07927 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S07927-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7927

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 3, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. HOYLMAN-SIGAL -- read twice and ordered printed, and
          when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conser-
          vation

        AN ACT to amend the  environmental  conservation  law,  in  relation  to
          protecting wolves

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. The environmental conservation law is amended by  adding  a
     2  new section 11-0541 to read as follows:
     3  § 11-0541. Protection of wolves.
     4    1. All wild canids taken in the state shall be checked and tagged in a
     5  manner to be determined by the department. For purposes of this section,
     6  "wild  canids" shall mean coyotes, including canids that when taken were
     7  thought to be coyotes but which subsequent DNA analysis revealed  to  be
     8  wolves.
     9    2.  Wild  canids  that are taken that have a weight greater than fifty
    10  pounds or that meet additional criteria established  by  the  department
    11  shall  be  subjected  to  a DNA analysis, paid for by the department, to
    12  determine the genetic composition of the animal. Such analysis shall  be
    13  conducted by a reputable laboratory that has prior experience genotyping
    14  hybridized  Canis  populations in the eastern United States. The results
    15  of any analysis performed shall promptly be provided to  the  public  by
    16  posting on the department's website.
    17    3.  In the event that the department determines, based on DNA analysis
    18  or other scientific method, and after a public  comment  period  of  not
    19  less  than  thirty days, that a wild canid taken in the state is a wolf,
    20  the department shall:
    21    (a) determine the location where the wolf  was  taken  and  determine,
    22  based  on  field research, whether there may be additional wolves in the
    23  vicinity;
    24    (b) impose a moratorium on the taking of wild canids,  in  a  specific
    25  area of the state, for as long as the department determines is necessary
    26  to  protect  any wolves in the occupied wolf territory and any potential
    27  adjacent territories; and

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13643-01-3
        S. 7927                             2

     1    (c) inform the public of the moratorium  through  posting  of  written
     2  notices in the moratorium area and on the department's website.
     3    4.  No  later than January first, two thousand twenty-six, the depart-
     4  ment shall submit to the legislature a report on the status of wolves in
     5  the state, based on field surveys, scat collection and analysis, howling
     6  surveys, DNA analysis, trail cameras and other methods as determined  by
     7  the  department. The status report shall be simultaneously posted on the
     8  department's website.
     9    5. The department shall  modify  its  hunting  and  trapping  training
    10  curriculum to include educational information concerning the presence of
    11  wolves  in the state, the legal protections for wolves, the checking and
    12  tagging requirements for wild canids, and how to distinguish a wolf from
    13  a coyote when a hunter or trapper is in the field.
    14    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.