Fox trapping is not currently permitted in Sampson County, as it is in some other counties across the state. After hearing pleas for a change, local leaders are lobbying state lawmakers to enact legislation that will allow predatory animals to be removed while utilizing what trappers labeled a useful natural resource.
During its meeting this week, the Sampson County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution requesting the N.C. General Assembly adopt a local act establishing a fox trapping season in the county.
”Sampson County is experiencing an increase in the population of coyotes and foxes, which exposes Sampson County’s native wildlife, domesticated animals and residents to an increased risk of attacks by these animals and the diseases that they carry,” the board stated in its resolution, approved in a unanimous 4-0 vote as part of the consent agenda this week. Chairman Clark Wooten was absent.
The licensed trapping of coyotes, in particular, has been found by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) to have significant potential for improving the success rate in dealing with predator coyotes, and that rate increases during overlapping coyote and fox trapping seasons, local officials said.
”Although coyotes may be trapped in Sampson County during an established season, foxes must be released, as fox trapping is currently not permitted in Sampson County,” the resolution noted.
Only the General Assembly has the authority to allow fox trapping in a county through passage of a local law. The board requested such a trapping season be established in Sampson from Nov. 1 through Feb. 28.
According to the NCWRC, regulated trapping is an integral component of wildlife conservation programs, as it controls abundant wildlife, removes nuisance animals, aids in restoring native species and protects habitat, property and threatened and endangered species.
In Sampson, the N.C. General Assembly has elected to classify foxes only as a game animals rather than game and furbearers as bobcat, opossum and raccoon are designated. This classification means that the Wildlife Resources Commision may not allow foxes to be taken by trapping during regular trapping seasons.
In Sampson, foxes can be hunted with a weapon with a daily bag limit of two and a season bag limit of 10. That hunting season extends from Nov. 17- Jan. 1. The sale of live foxes under this season is prohibited.
“Adding foxes to the species that may be taken with traps in Sampson County will not only reduce issues related to the fox population, but will also likely increase the rate at which predator coyotes are trapped incidentally to the concurrent trapping and taking of foxes,” the county board stated in its resolution.
The local resolution in favor of fox trapping comes just two months after trapping proponents addressed Sampson commissioners. Back in February, two men spoke to the fox trapping issue in Sampson, urging the board to support such a move.
Kalton Newkirk lives in Newton’s Crossroads, where three counties — Sampson, Duplin and Pender — converge.
”I hear all kinds of noises from the critters at night. My neighbor lost her dachshund due to a coyote — and they are getting brave. They also carry rabies,” said Newkirk. “So, what are we doing? If it’s an epidemic, then we would work on that. The CDC and people like that would work on it. How do we cure this?”
He urged commissioners to work toward seeing a fox trapping law enacted in Sampson, so those locally have some sort of recourse to remove the predatory animals
”Right now, if I catch a fox I cannot legally do anything with him, other than supposedly turn him loose,” said Newkirk. So that’s counterproductive. I cannot turn him loose; he will bite you, because he is ill when you get there. What we’re proposing is a fox trapping law in Sampson County that says I can keep that boy if I catch him, don’t turn him loose.”
Foxes will eat house cats and dogs. That’s just an “unpleasant fact of life,” Newkirk noted. Along with freeing an angry and dangerous animal, not being able to trap foxes also means a natural resource is wasted, he said,
“He’s worth about $2.50 for a hide, if I buy a permit to keep him,” said Newkirk. “It’s like a waste of natural resource; that’s what happens when you turn him loose. If you’re concerned about there being a depletion of them, have you ever thought about depleting roaches? It doesn’t happen. They are a natural preservative animal.”
Caden Overton has been trapping for the past several years and has noticed the problem, particularly in Sampson and Harnett counties, neither of which allow fox trapping.
“Like Mr. Newkirk said, it’s a waste of a natural resource. And I avoid the unethical use of a natural resource for the simple reason that I try to be an upstanding and ethical hunter and trapper at all times,” said Overton. “The past year or so I have also become an animal damage control trapper and I have not been able to effectively carry out my duties as I cannot do anything with the fox.”
”I’ve been able to do everything I want to with the coyote, but I can’t do anything with the fox,” he continued, “and that’s hindering my abilities as I am not able to effectively trap out coyotes if I can’t kill the foxes in the area. That’s why I urge this to move further in the courts.”
Newkirk said the county should do itself a favor, and see that the law is passed.
“This is a very passionate subject of mine and I can’t help it,” said Newkirk. “I think this is really something that really needs to be changed.”
