A bill passed by the Virginia General Assembly in this year’s short, 46-day session in Richmond would allow the owner of private property anywhere in the Commonwealth to kill a nuisance animal on their property from a stationary vehicle, which is currently illegal in Virginia.
H.B. 1696, introduced by Delegate Matthew Fariss (R-Buckingham), was written to authorize the killing of a nuisance species on the “private property by the owner of such property or his designee from a stationary automobile or other stationary vehicle,” according to the bill.
In late January, the bill passed through the House of Delegates with a 69-30 vote. Following the legislature’s crossover period, it passed unanimously with 40 votes in the State Senate.
The bill was then signed by Governor Ralph Northam in late February, and has an official enactment date of July 1, 2019, which most new laws have.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) defines a nuisance species as a house mouse, Norway rat, black rat, coyote, groundhog, nutria, feral hog, European starling, English sparrow, mute swan, and pigeon.
DGIF also lists common ways that property owners can prevent or resolve conflicts with wildlife, including refraining from feeding woodland animals, keeping trash or other refuse inside a home or other structure until it is picked up, placing trash or refuse in an animal proof container, keeping household pet feeding areas clean, removing bird feeders when problem species present themselves, clearing overhanging tree limbs and branches or other possible access to wildlife structures, and even electric fencing.
Nevertheless, if problems with nuisance species are persistent, Virginia landowners or their designees riding through their land in a vehicle may now shoot those species without having to get out or their vehicle, but most come to a stop and remain stationary before doing so to be in full compliance with the law.