Students and parents crowded the Joseph McVey Elementary School auditorium in Newark Monday night in the first of three hearings to oppose a bill allowing state officials to regulate the hunting and trapping of the gray fox.
Named Delaware’s official wildlife animal in 2010 by Gov. Jack Markell (D) in that same auditorium, the school that helped shepherd through that bill is now battling to stop open season on the fox.
Zackary Curles, part of the initial class that helped pass that legislation, says they had originally chosen the red fox, but farmers pushed back citing concerns over the animal attacking their livestock -- in particular chickens.
“We had to change it so we decided to do the gray fox and when we did the gray fox, no one really came out and said there were any problems with it, but now there is, which doesn’t make any sense,” Curles said.
"Until we get an accurate number of how many there are, we shouldn't really do anything rash."
That's what proponents and officials from the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control partially say the bill aims to do.
Still, dozens of current students also testified, saying they understood the concerns of farmers, but that they could manage the gray fox through nonlethal means. Those arguments didn't stick with the few Sussex County residents who traveled north.
“I had about 20 free range chickens and they wiped them all out," said Gerald Messick, a farmer near Millsboro, also noting a similar effect on the surrounding wildlife."The rabbit and the quail population has been decimated by foxes, red and gray.”
Friday, state GOP chairman Charlie Copeland blasted Senate Majority Leader David McBride (D-Hawks Nest) for choosing to host the hearing outside of Legislative Hall in "a peculiar break from usual practice."
"This is nothing more than Sen. McBride attempting to manipulate the discussion about a bill he does not support while furthering his own political agenda. It’s a vivid illustration of hubris trumping sound democratic process for personal political gain,” Copeland said in a statement.
McBride countered that it had always been his intention to hold a public meeting in each county, saying he hadn't seen Copeland's statement. "I’m quite confused and befuddled about how that’s a subversion of the political process," he said.
Paul Sedacca, the 4th grade teacher responsible for the original bill in 2010 and the effort to oppose this legislation, said he was "disappointed that a decision wasn't made," Monday, but that he felt it was fair to allow for further public comment.
Two meetings are scheduled May 4 in Georgetown and May 6 at Legislative Hall in Dover.
House lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the bill last month, with Markell saying he's willing to sign it in its current form.
