After Durham passed an ordinance last year allowing residents to raise chickens in their yards within city limits, Trinity Park homeowner Mari Mansfield jumped at the chance to have fresh eggs whenever she liked, so she built a chicken coop and purchased some baby chicks.

Mansfield says her passion for sustainable living led her to maintain a large vegetable garden for several years, so raising chickens seemed a natural extension of her efforts. Some neighborhood varmints, however, had other ideas.

For five months, she cared for the chicks, watching them mature into egg-laying adults only to find one morning they’d all been killed by a raccoon. Before purchasing more chicks, Mansfield sought help from Durham Animal Control. After learning that the agency would intervene only if the raccoon were rabid, Mansfield was left to find her own solution.

Rather than killing the animal, Mansfield said she wanted to catch it and relocate it to a more rural area of the state. She sought advice from neighbors via her community’s “listserv” and found out she might have to get a permit.

From the state Wildlife Resources Commission Web site, she learned she’d have to purchase an annual trapping license for $10 but could trap only during the designated season, Oct. 12 through Feb. 23. “Their Web site has detailed drawings and pictures of approved traps but many of them are not very humane. In fact, most of them are cruel,” Mansfield said.

“I started with the most humane trap, but the raccoon escaped. Then I bought a bigger one, but so far I’ve caught our cat, a squirrel, and a possum, but not the raccoon,” laughed Mansfield, “so now I’m looking at another type of trap.”

The regulation maze

Asked what has surprised her most, Mansfield said it was discovering such strict laws and regulations about wildlife. Apart from the federal Endangered Species Act, North Carolina has its own list of “endangered,” “threatened,” and “special concern” species, each of which has a special set of rules and regulations that restrict what landowners can do on their own property. Counties and municipalities have separate and sometimes differing rules.

Durham’s ordinance on raising backyard chickens is one of the state’s most restrictive laws. Durham residents have to apply for a “Limited Agriculture Permit” and pay a $26 fee. Dennis Doty, senior planner with Durham’s City-County Planning Department, said landowners have to submit a “plot plan” with their application and solicit consent from adjacent landowners. After submitting the application, a zoning enforcement officer, inspections officer, or animal control office performs a physical inspection of the applicant’s premises to determine compliance before the application is approved.

Ben Chase, an agricultural extension agent in Reidsville, said a lack of uniformity among ordinances across the state makes it difficult for farmers to protect their livestock from predation. In most instances, farmers can legally kill a predatory animal if it’s in the act of destroying livestock, but some counties and municipalities prohibit farmers from killing the predator if the animal is simply on the property near their livestock. Also, there’s no uniform law that allows farmers to recover their economic losses from predation.

Earlier this month, Donald and Wilma Brown, sheep farmers in Reidsville, had 48 ewes and lambs on their farm slaughtered by at least two dogs. “Donnie managed to put one of the dogs down but the other one escaped,” Wilma said. “It was a horrible sight. The mothers and babies were stacked five deep because they piled on each other trying to escape from the dogs. What was so hurtful is that we didn’t hear them because sheep don’t cry out when they’re being hurt. They had bites on their neck. Even the donkey and her baby that were in the pasture had been bitten on the front legs.”

“Animal control came out to put a trap but they only caught a possum,” said Wilma. “We estimate we lost $4,250 in income and, for a small farm, that’s a lot of money. Rockingham County has a leash law, but there’s no money from dog tag fees or other money to reimburse us.”

Pet owners also can sue and have sued farmers for killing their dogs even when the dogs killed livestock, said Chase. Ordinances vary and can be interpreted differently by whoever is enforcing the laws. “If livestock get out, and they frequently do, Rockingham County can cite the farmer and charge a fine. Failure to pay the citation within 72 hours can result in a late charge of $50 plus $5 a day and the farmer could even be arrested. If doesn’t happen often, but it just shows how the laws can be complicated.”

Hundreds of boards and commissions

Of the state’s more than 400 boards and commissions, 18 cover wildlife and natural resources-related issues, from clean water management, plant conservation, and fisheries to farmland preservation, forestry, and agriculture. The governor is charged with appointing individuals to lead these entities, but the Senate Pro-Tem and Speaker of the House also make appointments.

Not to be confused with the appointed boards and commissions, the state House and Senate have their own committees. Among the House committees are the Select Committee on Coyote Nuisance Removal, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, the Marine Resources and Aquaculture Committee, and the Wildlife Resources Committee. On the Senate side, there’s the Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee and the Appropriations on Natural and Economic Resources Committee.

And of the General Assembly’s 69 non-standing, interim, and study committees, several regulate or oversee natural and wildlife resources.

State Rep. Arthur Williams, D-Beaufort, chair of the House Standing Committee on Wildlife Resources and chair of the House Select Committee on Coyote Nuisance Removal, said the committee was formed after Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, proposed House Bill 1631 last year. Some legislators felt the issue needed further study before passing the bill.

Williams, a former commissioner with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said the Coyote Nuisance Removal Committee is an example of how the state works to protect wildlife resources without unduly restricting landowner rights.

Farmers across the state have been complaining about loss of livestock from coyotes. In the committee’s first meeting, Williams said he and fellow committee members learned that the coyote problem is quite complicated, thus they are working with the state’s Wildlife Resources Commission to develop a program to diminish the threat.

Property rights vs. conservation

The complexity and redundancy in regulations make it easy for North Carolina citizens and landowners to unknowingly run afoul of the law. And many of the laws and administrative rules cost citizens both time and money in order to obey.

The March 2007 Carolina Journal reported that some residents in Brunswick County’s Boiling Springs Lakes region began cutting down all the longleaf pines on their property after learning that it might fall within the habitat of an endangered species of woodpecker. Should that happen, landowners would face restrictions on the use of their property and have to obtain a federal permit, a time-consuming and costly process that could take up to a year.

Earlier this month, some residents of Governors Club in Chatham County were upset when their property owners association obtained a state permit to allow experienced bow hunters to kill deer. State law prevents the harassment of hunters who lawfully are killing, trapping, or removing wildlife. The association was acting in response to complaints from other residents that the deer were causing extensive and costly landscaping damage to their property.

Karen McMahan is a contributor to Carolina Journal.