{"id":12221,"date":"2026-03-12T12:55:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parks-and-wildlife-commission-accepts-petition-to-ban-colorado-fur-sales-in-embarrassing-meeting\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:24:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:24:38","slug":"parks-and-wildlife-commission-accepts-petition-to-ban-colorado-fur-sales-in-embarrassing-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/parks-and-wildlife-commission-accepts-petition-to-ban-colorado-fur-sales-in-embarrassing-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Parks and Wildlife Commission accepts petition to ban Colorado fur sales in \u2018embarrassing\u2019 meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The line to enter the monthly Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission\u2019s meeting was slow as members of the public were required to pass through security screening. The March 4 meeting was moved to the DoubleTree hotel in Westminster in order to accommodate a large crowd of citizens concerned about changed to the state law governing hunting of animals for their fur. (Tracy Ross\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WESTMINSTER \u2013 An out-of-state animal rights group has cleared a key hurdle in its push for a potential ban on commercial fur sales in Colorado after the Parks and Wildlife Commission last week voted to accept their petition.<\/p>\n

In what critics are calling a blow to science-based wildlife management, the commission voted 6-4 March 4 to advance the Center for Biological Diversity\u2019s petition to ban all commercial sales of the furbearing species, with the exception of fur in pre-tied fishing flies, felt hats that incorporate fur and fur sold for scientific research, education or display in museums.<\/p>\n

Although CPW staff members and Director Laura Clellan recommended the petition be denied, the commission is the ultimate decision-maker. Now that the petition has been accepted, CPW staff members will draft rules along with regulations outlining proposed exceptions to the ban.<\/p>\n

Clellan said March 4\u2019s vote does not mean the entirety of the petition is approved. Next up will be further debate about the scope of the rules at a future meeting.<\/p>\n

While the vote happened on Day One of the two-day CPW commission meeting that started March 4, rancor continued March 5, as members of the public and even some on the commission questioned the process that resulted in the petition\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u201d votes came from Commission Chair Rich Reading and commissioners Jessica Beaulieu, John Emerick, Jay Tutchton, Jack Murphy and Eden Vardy.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo\u201d votes came from Gabe Otero, Dallas May, Tai Jacober and Frances Silva Blayney.<\/p>\n

Animal activists are celebrating the commission\u2019s action as a win, saying it gives furbearing animals the same protections as game animals like elk, deer and antelope. Currently, the sale of these species\u2019 meat on the commercial market \u2013 though not their hides or antlers \u2013 is illegal, but the furs of trapped and killed beavers, ringtails, red foxes, pine martens, bobcats, coyotes and eight other species can be sold in unlimited numbers.<\/p>\n

The petition does not ask for furbearer trapping to end.<\/p>\n

Samantha Miller, who spearheaded the petition for the Center for Biological Diversity, said \u201cit\u2019s great to see Colorado Parks and Wildlife leadership affirm that commercial markets have no place in science-based wildlife management. By approving our petition to end the sale of pelts from Colorado\u2019s furbearing wildlife, the commission took a major step toward ensuring cherished animals like swift foxes and rare ringtails are managed for conservation, not profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many opponents are calling the way the commission came to the vote \u2013 before a crowd that topped 400 at the DoubleTree hotel in Westminster \u2013 a \u201cshow of incompetence\u201d so confusing they can\u2019t understand what happened, and an erosion of trust that\u2019s been building at least since the start of wolf reintroduction.<\/p>\n

\"The
The line to enter the monthly Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission\u2019s meeting was slow as members of the public were required to pass through security screening. The March 4 meeting was moved to the DoubleTree hotel in Westminster in order to accommodate a large crowd of citizens concerned about changed to the state law governing hunting of animals for their fur. (Tracy Ross\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
\u2018Never a more dysfunctional meeting\u2019<\/div>\n

Dean Riggs, a retired game warden from Loma with more than 30 years of agency experience, said he has \u201cnever seen a more dysfunctional running of a meeting\u201d and what he witnessed was \u201cincredibly out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussion of the petition March 4 wrapped around a long conversation focused on a separate recommendation to put bag limits on furbearer harvest, which muddied the issue, said Riggs and May, the commissioner and rancher from Lamar representing agriculture.<\/p>\n

The conversation on bag limits followed a presentation by Mark Vieira, CPW\u2019s carnivore and furbearer program manager. It focused on populations, allowable harvest numbers, harvest rates and impacts to several furbearers, along with recommendations about how to manage them based on several months of debate within a furbearer working group including diverse stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Vieira\u2019s numbers reflected modeling based on peer-reviewed scientific papers, because CPW at present requires trappers and hunters to report only bobcat kills. Currently, Colorado allows unlimited killing of the state\u2019s 17 furbearers. The Center for Biological Diversity says the lack of reporting requirements for the 16 other species makes it impossible to determine how many animals are killed annually.<\/p>\n

But one of the recommendations in CPW\u2019s proposed management plan is to limit hunters and trappers to taking no more than 15 of each species per day.<\/p>\n

That is an arbitrary number based on faulty science, say critics such as Delia Malone, an ecologist who serves on the board of directors for ColoradoWild, a nonprofit conservation group.<\/p>\n

The information Vieira provided on which he based his occupancy model, which measures abundance and distribution of a species, was \u201copinion\u201d and \u201cnot based in science, rather on anecdotal survey info from 45% of trappers,\u201d Malone said in an email March 5 to The Colorado Sun.<\/p>\n

The topic launched several commissioners into a conversation about reducing bag limits to two per day per species. Some said the importance of doing so was for \u201csocial\u201d reasons \u2013 to manage public perception \u2013 how people feel about the numbers.<\/p>\n

Tutchton, the vice chair and representative for recreation, parks and nonconsumptive wildlife, from Centennial, remained \u201cstuck\u201d on the topic of bag limits for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m wondering if someone who\u2019s been around could tell us, how did we come up with a bag limit and a possession limit for, let\u2019s say, squirrels or cottontails,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I see the same problems there, although there\u2019s probably no biological reason to have those bag limits and possession limits.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jacober, a rancher from Pitkin County representing agriculture producers, said the commission should continue to rely on the expertise of its biologists, who\u2019ve been managing wildlife since 1877.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t help but go back to the science and the staff and the biologists that are out there doing this work telling us that this harvest is not affecting the populations,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve listened, and I\u2019ve read 1,000 emails like all of you, and I just have to go back to the people that are out there studying and trust what they\u2019re saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already May had said \u201cwith all due respect for my fellow commissioners \u2026 I think this discussion is going to direct how they feel about the (furbearer petition).\u201d But after another ranging conversation that dug into statutes and previous ballot outcomes and why there is a bag limit on rabbits, Beaulieu, a lawyer who manages the University of Denver\u2019s Animal Law Program and represents parks and recreation on the commission, made a motion.<\/p>\n

Much confusion ensued around exactly what the commission was voting for.<\/p>\n

Beaulieu said she wanted to approve the \u201cspirit of the petition\u201d and move onto rulemaking \u201cwith exceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vardy still didn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n

Tutchton said he was against commerce of wildlife.<\/p>\n

Reading seconded the motion to vote for the petition.<\/p>\n

And May said he couldn\u2019t with conscience vote for it without knowing the exceptions.<\/p>\n

More pushback on Day Two<\/div>\n

March 5\u2019s meeting included a discussion about the confusion March 4. May asked for clarification on what they had voted on so people don\u2019t show up to later meetings and are surprised by what will be presented.<\/p>\n

Reading excused the commission for a discussion behind closed doors.<\/p>\n

When they reconvened, Reading played a clip of Beaulieu\u2019s motion, \u201cwhich was then seconded,\u201d he added. Then he opened the meeting up to public comment.<\/p>\n

Fewer people had signed up than on March 4.<\/p>\n

Jacci McKenna, who identifies herself as a \u201cprivate citizen,\u201d thanked the commission for the courage they displayed in taking into account that there is \u201cno sufficient data that CPW has access to to be making the decisions they are making with respect to bag limits and other things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Surls, Colorado state coordinator at Project Coyote, said \u201cseasons should be part of the discussion when going through this conversation, and all 17 species should have their seasons revisited, especially coyotes, seeing that they are (hunted) year round.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marie Haskett, a rancher and former commissioner from Meeker, said, \u201cWow. That\u2019s the only word I can think of to say about yesterday. It was also embarrassing today. You added to confusion around the motion, so you go behind closed doors to figure out what happened. Where\u2019s the transparency?\u201d<\/p>\n

And many others shared the views of Han Smith, owner of the Rusty Spurr Ranch in Kremmling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen better demonstrations of parliamentary procedure and objectivity in the average 4-H meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cYour actions and behavior yesterday did more to destroy trust than any single action in the history of the CPW or this commission.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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