Governor Nathan Deal signed House Bill 160 today removing a ban on raccoon trapping in all of North Georgia.
According to the bill’s sponsor, Representative Emory Dunahoo (R-Hall County), the ban was put in place decades ago. It seems raccoon hunters and raccoon trappers were facing a decrease in the critter’s population here in the mountains. To satisfy both groups, the state drew a line from Carroll County over to Elbert County.
Below the line – raccoons were fair game for trappers.
Above the line – trapping raccoons was illegal until today.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources supported HB 160 saying the population of raccoons in north Georgia has increased significantly since the ban was put in place. DNR officers reported they were writing many citations to people who accidently caught one in a trap meant for other game.
In the weeks after the legislative session, the group Georgia Animal Rights and Protection (GARP) peppered the Governor with letters, protests and social media posts urging him to veto HB 160 and keep the ban in place. They posted graphic images of raccoons and even household pets caught in traps to drive home their belief that trapping is inhumane. “We’re very disappointed in the Governor” Julie Robertson of GARP says.
The group plans to continue opposition to trapping “We’re going to lobby and get some changes made in the future. Trapping has been banned in 88 countries,” Robertson explains, “the steel jaw leghold traps and the brutality that these cause for wildlife is horrific.”
