Raccoons beware: Iowa lawmakers approve year-round hunting season for furry menaces

Stephen Gruber-Miller, Des Moines Register
Updated ·2 min read
27

Iowa lawmakers have declared open season on raccoons.

Due to "an overabundance" of certain furry wildlife, lawmakers have passed a bill allowing Iowans year-round permission to shoot, trap or snare animals that are deemed to be a nuisance, including raccoons, opossums and skunks.

"They have become a tremendous nuisance, destroying agricultural crops but also damaging houses, property in all aspects," said Sen. Tom Shipley, R-Nodaway. "And this is just going to hopefully get that population under control."

The bill, House File 317, would allow the owners or tenants of agricultural properties outside city limits to kill or trap the animals on their properties. It would not apply to any animals designated as endangered species.

More: Surge in population of troublesome raccoons prompts call for open hunting season

The Senate voted 48-2 to pass the measure Monday, sending it to Gov. Kim Reynolds for her signature. The House passed the bill 87-11 on March 7.

For one senator, it's personal.

Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said he has a bus that he takes with him on RAGBRAI, and after the ride is over he often leaves food in the bus. One night, he left the sliding driver's side window of the bus ever so slightly ajar.

"And a raccoon crawled up on the hood of my bus, hung off the mirror and got its paws — they’re regular hands — slid open the window and got in there and had a feast inside my bus," Dotzler said.

But that wasn't the raccoon's worst offense.

"That raccoon defecated in my hat on the way out of the bus," he said, drawing laughter from the Senate chamber.

Dotzler was determined not to have a repeat of the incident.

"I might have broke a law because I put a couple of mousetraps up on the hood with peanut butter on them and I noticed they were scattered all over my driveway after that," he said. "So I figured at least I got his fingers."

Editor's note: A previously published version of this story incorrectly described who would be allowed to kill or trap nuisance animals. The bill applies to owners or tenants of agricultural property outside city limits on their properties.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Raccoons, opossums, skunks could be hunted year-round under Iowa bill