THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010429
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
A House committee on Thursday approved a bill that would allow Hyde and Washington County residents to kill red wolves that wander off the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge onto private property.
The bill has to clear several hurdles in the General Assembly over the next two days if the bill is to become law, including review by the House late Thursday night or early today.
And any move to delay the bill, even for a few hours, could easily spell defeat for the measure this year as legislators rush to adjourn the session, according to Rep. Vernon G. James, D-Pasquotank, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.
James was expected to present the bill to the House late Thursday night. The House Agriculture Committee voted 22-1 to approve the bill over the objections of Rep. Joe Mavretic, D-Edgecombe, who said the proposal is unconstitutional and called for a roll-call vote of committee members. Mavretic cast the sole dissenting vote.
``Our staff. . .has told us that this bill is unconstitutional,'' Mavretic said. As legislators, ``your first duty is to uphold the constitution of the United States and your second duty is to uphold the constitution of North Carolina. Your loyalty to your constituents falls a very distant third to those duties.''
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Zeno Edwards, R-Beaufort, would allow landowners in Hyde and Washington counties 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.
At issue in Hyde County is a group of about 15 wolves which generally remain north of Lake Mattamuskeet near Fairfield, about a third of the total of 40 to 50 red wolves that have been released in four counties - Dare, Hyde, Washington and Tyrrell - by the federal government.
But, according to Troy Mayo, chairman of the Hyde County Board of Commissioners, instead of remaining on refuge land, the wolves have wandered onto private lands in the county. They apparently have killed a herd of goats, killed and frightened hunting dogs and wandered onto at least one back porch in the county, Mayo said.
Several environmental groups, including the N.C. Wildlife Federation, oppose the bill. One spokesman for the Wildlife Federation said earlier this week that he hopes the Fish & Wildlife Service can reach a compromise with Washington and Hyde County residents.
Dare and Tyrrell counties are not included in the measure because officials in those two counties have not complained about problems with the red wolf, Edwards said. by CNB