Agenda - 04-03-2012 - 6b - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 Attachment 6 MEMORANDUM TO: Orange County Board of Commissioners FROM: Com.missioner Barry Jacobs Commissioner Earl McKee DATE: March 27, 2012 RE: Hunting Deer with Dogs Legislative Item for 2012 Orange County's legislative issues package for 2012, as proposed by the Legislative Issues Work Group (LIWG), will be presented for public hearing and Board of Commissioners approval at the April 3, 2012 regular Board meeting. The Board-approved package will then be presented to Orange County's legislative delegation on April 16, 2012 in preparation for the 2012 North Carolina General Assembly session. As members of the Board-appointed 2012 LIWG, we have considered various issues to include in the proposed 2012 legislative issues package. One of the issues the LIWG has not included in the recommended legislative package is a request that the General Assembly adopt a local bill prohibiting the use of dogs while hunting deer in Orange County. This memorandum explains the basis for the LIWG's exclusion of that item. Board members and the public will recall that the County has invested significant time on the hunting deer with dogs issue in recent years, including receiving input from the public and discussing the matter at several Board of Commissioners' meetings. For the 2011 General Assembly session; the Board approved a resolution submitting a draft local bill to Orange County's legislative delegation. The resolution asked that the delegation pursue adoption of a bill by the General Assembly prohibiting hunting deer with dogs in Orange County. Senate Bill 35 — Orange Co./No Hunting Deer with Dogs—was subsequently}ntroduced by Senator Ellie Kinnaird. The bill was directed to the Senate State and Loca1 Government Committee, but efforts toward adoption by the General Assembly were not successful. Board members will also remember that there were several hunting groups in previous years involved in hunting deer with dogs in Orange County. In some instances, members of these groups were from outside Orange County. It had been suggested that many of the numerous problems concerning hunting deer with dogs were very often, but not always, the result of actions by the non- Orange County residents. One of the principal groups from outside the County ceased hunting activities in the County prior to the 2011 hunting season. , This appears to subsequently coincide with a diminished number of requests for assistance from the public during the 2011 season to addxess hunting deer with dogs situations. Wildlife Resources Commission stafF in the County reported receiving fewer than five ca11s related to hunting deer with dogs. The Orange County Sheriff's Department received one call concerning hunting deer with dogs. And the Orange Countv Animal Services Department initially received two requests for assistance related to hunting deer with dogs, with only one call tracing back to an actual hunting deer with dogs issue.