MADISON, WI (AP)-- The Legislature's hunting committees are set to vote this week on a bill that would establish a woodchuck hunting and trapping season.
Both the Assembly and Senate's sporting heritage committees are scheduled to vote on the Republican-authored measure on Wednesday.
The bill would remove woodchucks from the state's protected species list and establish a hunting and trapping season for them that would run from July through December with no bag limits. The proposal's authors, Rep. Andre Jacque and Sen. Tom Tiffany, say the creatures are plentiful and are destroying gardens and undermining building foundations with their burrowing.
The Alliance for Animals, the Humane Society and the Sierra Club's state chapter have all registered against the bill. The Wisconsin Wildlife Federation has registered in support.
