Pa. Game Commission drops two controversial amendments

HARRISBURG (AP) -- The Pennsylvania Game Commission backed off from two controversial amendments to the game code, including regulations on releasing animals into the wild and how much fluorescent orange hunters must wear during turkey hunting seasons.
After spending much of Monday listening to hours of public comment against both proposed amendments, commissioners came back a day later and struck the controversial portions.
Rules governing hunter visibility will largely stay the same after a torrent of criticism that the proposed new rules were too heavy handed, and that turkeys would be spooked by the greater amounts of fluorescent orange that hunters would have been required to wear.
Under the proposal, fall turkey hunters would have had to wear 250 square inches of fluorescent orange on the head, chest and back at all times. Currently, a stationary hunter is allowed to remove the orange if 100 square inches of orange material are placed within 15 feet, and regulations are less strict in areas limited to bowhunting and shotguns.
Commissioners also removed language pertaining to cats and dogs from a portion of an amendment barring the release of animals into the wild.
Nonprofit groups that capture, neuter and release stray cats in an effort to reduce the population of stray cat colonies had protested the language, saying that it would outlaw their work.
While a game commission spokesman has insisted that releasing a cat is already illegal under game regulations and the state crimes code, he said that commissioners concluded that the proposed language could "muddy" the enforcement waters.
The game commission and wildlife groups argue that stray cats feed on or compete with native wildlife and spread rabies, although the game commission rarely enforces the law.