Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 208
F. Fur-bearing animals
DEFENSE FOR ILLEGAL COLLECTION OF FUR-BEARING ANIMAL
TEX. PARKS AND WILDLIFE CODE § 71.004
This chapter does not prohibit a landowner or his agent
from taking a fur-bearing animal causing depredation on that
personʼs land.
It is not uncommon to be troubled by fur-bearing pests on your
property, such as wild beavers, otters, minks, ring-tailed cats,
badgers, skunks, raccoons, muskrats, opossums, foxes, or nutria.
Many of these animals destroy property, crops, and so forth in their
attempt to build their own habitats. It is for that reason this section
of the Parks and Wildlife Code exists: to provide you with some
recourse in the event you and your property are troubled by one of
these animals. Unlike the Health and Safety Code section for dogs
and coyotes, this appears to be a defense, much like other sections,
rather than an affirmative authorization to use deadly force against
a fur-bearing animal. Chapter 71 of the Parks and Wildlife Code
also defines a “taking” of a fur-bearing animal to include killing
that animal. Interestingly, if you kill a fur-bearing animal that is
destroying your crops, the law does not allow you to use or keep
its fur. Therefore, you cannot make a coon-skin cap out of that
nuisance raccoon.
G. Federal law defenses
The federal law, in a comprehensive fashion, has actually had the
foresight to specifically provide that a person may kill an animal
protected by federal law in self-defense, such as the regulations
concerning the Mexican wolf in 50 CFR § 17.84(k)(7)(i), or the
grizzly bear in 50 CFR § 17.40(b)(i)(B). Unlike the Texas statutes,
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