By BEN NEARY
NMWF Conservation Director
A bill to reform a state law that allows landowners to kill wildlife they believe is threatening their crops cleared its first committee hearing Saturday with the strong support of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.
The Senate Conservation Committee voted 6-to-2 to pass SB419 despite opposition from agricultural groups.
The bill would reform the so-called “Jennings Law,” a controversial 1997 provision that allows landowners to kill wildlife perceived to be a threat to private property including crops, and even native grasslands. Named after its sponsor, former State Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, the law has led to numerous abuses around the state in which many elk and pronghorn have been gunned down indiscriminately.
In addition to reforming the Jennings Law, SB419 would expand the state’s waste-of-game statute to prohibit hunters from leaving the edible portions of cougar, bear and javelina in the field.
Matejka Santillanes lives with her family close to the Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge north of Socorro. She testified in favor of the bill, telling the committee that she saw a herd of wounded bull elk scatter across her property after they had been shot by a neighbor in July 2019.
“I strongly support the creation of a reasonable policy that sets boundaries to the mass slaughtering of game animals on private land,” Santillanes said.
Santillanes emphasized that she has great respect for the hunting and ranching community and believes people have a right to protect their private property. She said her family has been hunting since the 1930s and said her nephews are licensed outfitters.
“I share this with you because what I have witnessed literally brought me to my knees, broke my heart that day and made me determined to change the Jennings Law,” Santillanes said.
Santillanes said she heard gunshots early in the morning and looked outside to see a herd of bull elk jumping over her father’s fence. She saw several of the bulls were injured.
Santillanes said a neighbor grows wheat and pasture to feed his cattle on a leased field near her family’s property.
“He’s told me several times that he’s going to just shoot the elk because they’re tearing up his pasture,” Santillanes said of her neighbor. “He mentioned that he was working with the Game and FIsh Department to put up an elk fence, but the landowner doesn’t want the fence so he’s just going to shoot them, the elk. He was within his legal right to take action under the current law. And that’s exactly what I witnessed, about 18 elk, all measuring six-by-six bulls, being traumatized and injured from a shooter that shot repeatedly into the herd.”
Santillanes said she counted eight bulls, each with a broken leg, struggling to move across her property.
“Minutes later I saw a bull with his jaw blown off, and another bull that had been not only gut-shot, but with a broken leg as well,” Santillanes said. “Another bull with a broken leg fled west and fell into the irrigation ditch and stayed in the water because he couldn’t get out. Others scattered in various directions. Some even jumped several fences to the east and almost ended up on Interstate 25. The game warden put, I believe, six down.”
Santillanes said the shooting happened in an area where kids commonly walk to the bus stop and where people take walks. She said elk have used the same migratory path there for over 30 years.
“I support reforming the Jennings Law by supporting rules promulgated by the commission that provide when, whether and by what manner and method a species can be taken or killed in order to mitigate damage,” Santillanes said. “And Senate Bill 419 does that by giving the commission authority to put some structure behind this and limit mass slaughter situations. What Senate Bill 419 does not do is take away my rights to use legal action to protect my family, livestock, pets or property.”
Bill co-sponsor Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, told the committee that addressing the Jenning’s Law is vitally important. In addition, he said it’s necessary to expand the prohibition on wanton waste of wildlife to include bear, javelina and cougar.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the NMWF, testified that polling across the country continues to show strong public support for hunting for food.
“The fact that it’s currently legal for licensed hunters to kill javelina, black bear and cougar without any requirement of removing that meat from the field poorly reflects the value and respect that New Mexicans have for the wildlife that collectively belongs to all of us,” Deubel said. “Quite frankly, allowing this activity to remain legal in this state, in my belief, is one of the greatest threats to the future of hunting in New Mexico.”
John Crenshaw, president of the board of the NMWF, served as an expert witness on the bill. He said SB419 would give the New Mexico State Game Commission authority to develop rules to address the killing of depredating or nuisance game animals, furbearers and other protected species.
“The State Game Commission is capable of reining in that carnage while also preserving citizens’ ability to protect property from depredating big game or other protected species,” Crenshaw said.
Several witnesses who spoke against the bill expressed concern that repealing the Jennings Law was the first step in a larger effort to get the Game Commission to repeal the state’s Elk Private Lands Use System (EPLUS). Under that system, private landowners receive elk permit authorizations that they can sell to the highest bidder on the open market.
A recent audit by the Legislature’s nonpartisan Legislative Council Service found that the EPLUS system benefits private landowners and out-of-state hunters at the expense of resident hunters. The LFC concluded New Mexico grants a much greater percentage of available elk licenses to private landowners than neighboring states.
Lesli Allison, executive director of the Western Landowners Alliance, warned the committee that repealing the Jennings Law would hurt wildlife as well as farmers, ranchers and rural economies.
For example, Allison said 76 percent of the land in Game Unit 4 — in northern Rio Arriba County — is comprised of ranches that depend on hunting and grazing to stay intact. It’s also in the middle of one of the most important elk corridors in the region.
“If you repeal the Jennings Law, removing landowners’ statutory right to protect their livelihoods, and the foundation of the EPLUS program — which is the ultimate goal of this legislation — you will gut the economies of places like Chama, send land into subdivision and open the floodgates of conflict and litigation,” Allison said.
Kerrie Cox Romero, executive director of the New Mexico Council of Outfitters and Guides, said that, despite the claims by proponents, the Jennings Law is not utilized by landowners for elk control very often.
“This is because, under the EPLUS program, elk have value,” Romero said. “Without EPLUS, elk become just another pest that competes for resources with other income-producing assets, such as cattle and crops.”
“This bill is not about saving wildlife,” Romero said. “There are simple ways to tighten the loopholes in the Jennings Law without repealing it, but this bill doesn’t provide any of those solutions. It’s clear to us that the end goal has more to do with private land hunting authorizations than it does actually protecting wildlife.”
Steinborn responded that the bill wouldn’t affect the EPLUS system. He said it seemed that opponents were trying to conflate the EPLUS system with the slaughter of the state’s game animals, “and using a lot of fear and misinformation to do that.”
And contrary to the claims of some opponents, Steinborn emphasized that the bill wouldn’t require landowners to seek assistance from the game department before shooting coyotes or other unprotected wildlife that’s threatening chickens or pets.
“We’re really just replacing an arbitrary system with a more managed system,” Steinborn said.
Sen. David M. Gallegos, R-Eunice, told Steinborn he was concerned that the bill didn’t protect landowners.
Sen. Gregg Schmedes, R-Tijeras, also said he was concerned the bill would take away a remedy that landowners can use.
Schmedes and Sen. Steven P. Neville, R-Aztec, voted against the bill. The following senators voted for it: Chair Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos; Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, Carrie Hamblen, D-Las Cruces, Harold Pope, Jr., D-Albuquerque; Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez, D-Albuquerque; and Joseph Cervates, D-Las Cruces. Gallegos did not vote.
The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup. The NMWF urges hunters to contact the committee members and urge them to approve the bill. In addition, it’s imperative to request that Sen. Munoz schedule the bill for a prompt hearing.