When the House Resources Committee took up SB 1286 this afternoon, Sen. Gary Schroeder's bill to classify raccoons as "predatory wildlife" to ease control of the pesky animals, four members of the committee donned coon-skin hats in honor of the bill. "What creativity - I love it!" Schroeder responded. The bill, which easily passed the committee and which earlier passed the Senate on a unanimous vote, was backed by the Idaho Fish & Game Commission. "We have a year-round season on raccoons," Schroeder told the committee. "If you have a hunting and trapping license, you can take as many as you want, any time of the year. ... The season's open all year long and you can have as many as you want, and they're common nuisance animals in both urban and rural areas."

Reclassifying raccoons as predators allows both citizens and control agents to dispose of raccoons without worrying about possession laws or limits. Here's how enthusiastic committee members were about the bill: Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, said, "We have a lot of them in our district, and they are creating quite a problem, right where I live." Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said, "I know it's not the correct protocol for the committee, but if I could I'd like to vote twice, once for me and once for my wife - the raccoons are terrible with her corn in her garden." The bill now heads to the full House.