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Animal Control to drop 'nuisance' wildlife trapping cases next month
A big change is set to happen for county citizens who trap wild animals on private property.The director of the Animal Control Bureau has said his department is too overwhelmed to continue responding to "nuisance" calls that end in the animals being euthanized on site.
The Animal Control Bureau, which is part of the Prince William County Police Department, essentially began doing the job of the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries Department years ago, according to bureau Director and Master Detective Samson Newsome.
Residential development in Prince William County has turned the county from a rural community to a burgeoning area with the commonwealth's second-highest population.
That also left the county's wildlife population, particularly in the western half of the county, competing for living space with their human cohabitants.
Newsome spent the bulk of his 29-year career working in the homicide and violent crimes sector until switching to Animal Control six years ago. He said he plans to discontinue the bureau's practice of responding to calls about trapped "nuisance" animals that do not pose serious threats to people.
The practice will end sometime in August, he said, and instead, Animal Control will refer citizens to either private contractors or the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The Animal Control Bureau provides its services at the cost of county taxpayers and does not charge individuals for house calls related to the trappings.
"The wildlife situation's not going to get any better, unfortunately," said Newsome, later adding, "certainly, it's not wildlife's fault. It's just doing what it's supposed to do."
He described in a June 18 email to Supervisor John Stirrup's (R-Gainesville) office how the process for responding to wildlife disturbance calls works for the bureau.
"All citizens who utilize our traps and call us to pick up the animal are informed that we are not permitted by law to relocate wildlife and that whatever we pick up will be euthanized," wrote Newsome.
"Generally by the time we arrive to remove a wild animal from a trap it is already in a very high state of stress. We euthanize wildlife on the scene as it is more humane than adding the additional stress of cage transfers ... It would also require us to immediately transport every wild animal directly to the shelter, which is not only inhumane as mentioned but is just not practical."
Statistics about the cost of responding to each call as well as just how many traps the county has lent to citizens by request were not available as of press time. Newsome did say though that 70 percent of all the calls that come into Animal Control are related to wildlife, a statistic that tends to max-out in the summer.
Officers “are generally very discreet when euthanizing any animal, but even if it were observed, it is an injection of a sedative with a syringe and the animal (particularly wildlife) does not respond immediately," wrote Newsome. "It normally takes about 10-15 minutes for the drug to affect the animal, at which time it goes into a deep sleep, so that part is rarely witnessed by citizens."
During a phone interview Monday, Newsome said it has gotten to the point with the public that "we can't manage our primary mission," which focuses on domesticated animals.
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