
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994                    TAG: 9406290392 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B4    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940629                                 LENGTH: RALEIGH

PROPOSAL WOULD ALLOW KILLING OF WOLVES \

{LEAD} A group of Hyde County officials on Tuesday asked a state legislative panel to support a proposal that would allow some eastern North Carolina residents to kill red wolves that wander onto their property.

``The people of Hyde County need . . . some relief,'' said Harvey W. Raynor III, Hyde County's lawyer. ``And we're looking to the legislature for that relief.''

{REST} Raynor asked the House Agriculture Committee to support the bill despite concerns that the law is unconstitutional and would violate the federal Endangered Species Act.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Zeno Edwards, R-Beaufort, would allow landowners in Hyde County to trap and kill red wolves if the landowner has asked the Fish & Wildlife Service to remove the wolves and if the landowner notifies that agency within 48 hours of an animal being trapped and killed.

The House Agriculture Committee discussed the bill last week but postponed action on it after Barbara Riley, its legislative counsel, said that Edwards' bill is unconstitutional. She said it would violate the federal Endangered Species Act and confuse local residents.

James C. Pulliam, regional director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Atlanta, the federal agency which oversees the red wolf program, told the committee that if North Carolina were to enact the law, the state could lose some federal appropriations.

Pulliam asked that the agency be allowed to work out a compromise between its regulations and the private landowners in Hyde County who do not want the red wolves on their property.

Rep. Vernon James, D-Pasquotank, chairman of the agriculture committee, said he hopes to work out a compromise that would prevent the state from adopting an unconstitutional law that would confuse landowners.

At issue in Hyde County is a group of about 15 wolves that generally remain north of Lake Mattamuskeet near Fairfield. The group is part of the 40 to 50 red wolves released in four counties - Dare, Hyde, Washington and Tyrrell - by the federal government. by CNB