HF2665: Raccoon Bounty

Update: The legislature did not pass this bill.

Sierra Club opposes the raccoon bounty legislation. 

The legislation features are:

• Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will pay a $5 bounty for each whole raccoon tail
• Raccoon tail pickup events will be held in each county each month, during the trapping season where DNR or a fur dealer collects tails
• DNR is to monitor trapping data to ensure excessive harvesting does not occur

Sierra Club has concerns about a raccoon bounty

• It is costly to hold the pickup events and to pay for the tails - for facilities in all 99 counties for each month of the trapping season plus an extra month at the end of the season, for supplies to hold the tails, for rendering services if the tails cannot be sold to a fur dealer, for advertising, for staff time, for travel and vehicle expenses.
• There are no limits on the number of raccoons that can be killed for their bounty.
• The DNR needs to have effective monitoring in place to ensure the population survives and is not driven to extinction.
• Last year the legislature passed a bill that allowed year-round trapping of raccoons on private property.  We don't even know the results of that law on the overall population of raccoons in Iowa.
• Bounties are a relic of the 1800's; we have better ways of dealing with nuisance animals.
• Raccoons are part of the environment and belong in Iowa; some people enjoy watching raccoons and want them in Iowa.

What you can do

Ask your representative to oppose the raccoon bounty bill HF2481.