No muskrat love: Meeting approves invoice permitting DNR to shoot highway-damaging rodents | Native Authorities

Under applicable law, DNR agents can remove wildlife that is causing damage or nuisance, or approve wildlife removal. “Removal” can be done by “catching, shooting, setting a trap, moving or otherwise destroying or disposing of the wild animal”.

However, current law also prohibits people from firing a firearm within 50 feet of the center of a roadway.

The bill would lift this ban for the purpose of beaver and muskrat management, as long as it does not pose a risk to public safety.

“In the case of beavers and muskrats, you can’t really sneak up on them because they’re pretty smart … and they try to catch them when they can, but often they can’t,” Edming said. “If you’ve ever met a muskrat, they can jump six feet into the air. They are very vicious animals.”

Beavers, Edming added, are “nothing to fool around with” either.

Both the Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Towns Association support the legislation.

In a written statement, the DNR said it did not anticipate any safety concerns with the bill, as permits would be issued on a case-by-case basis, “if only necessary and appropriate”.

Beaver and muskrat populations “Wisconsin is doing reasonably well, according to DNR,” thanks to higher surface water levels and a decline in catch from a depressed fur market.

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