Oregonians will continue to have one of the most lax predator-trapping laws in the nation under the state’s first rules governing how often snares set for coyotes and other predators should be checked.

In a split vote, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday adopted a rule requiring that trappers check and remove animals from non-lethal traps every 76 hours when targeting coyotes, rodents and some birds in cases not involving agricultural or livestock loss. But in cases with proof of economic loss, the limit increases to seven days for landowners, land-leasers and others trapping on their behalf.

The law also requires that killing traps or snares be checked every 30 days, with no exceptions.

Friday’s decision angered animal-rights activists who wanted the commission to mirror Oregon’s furbearer trapping rules by setting a 48-hour limit for all traps as a way of easing suffering among target and non-target animals. Thirty states currently have blanket 24-hour limits.

"This was an opportunity to bring Oregon up to where most of the states are and they simply chose not to do so," said Sally Mackler, wildlife chairwoman for the Sierra Club’s Oregon chapter. "Seven days is a long, long time for an animal to sit in a trap. That’s really unconscionable."

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But farmers, ranchers and timber interests — the private natural-resource entities who use trapping to reduce damage to crops, trees and livestock — called the new standards reasonable for those suffering economic loss from the public’s wildlife.

"This is big," state Sen. Roger Beyer, R-Molalla, said after the commission meeting. "The private landowners of the state of Oregon came forward and said, ‘we’re getting damage from your animals and we need help.’ "

The rules, dubbed ORS 610.002, will go into effect as soon as they are filed with the secretary of state, commission spokeswoman Anne Pressentin Young said. That filing is expected early next week, she said.

The vote was 4-2, with Commissioner Don Denman of Jacksonville voting against it. He favored a 48-hour rule.

Friday’s action caps a tumultuous year in which the commission tried and failed to get trapping and animal-rights interests to reach some consensus in trap-check requirements.

The Oregon Legislature in 2001 passed a new trapping law that set a 48-hour limit for the trapping of furbearers like mink and beavers, but the law states that traps set for predators should be checked "on a regular basis."

The commission was charged to define specifically what "regular" means, and a hot public debate ensued over how long is long enough.

An Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife citizen’s committee met last year and the majority favored a rule like the one adopted Friday. In it, the 76-hour limit was crafted so federal Wildlife Service agents — the so-called "government trapper" — could set coyote snares on a Friday and not check them until Monday.

The seven-day exemption for landowners, lessees or their agents includes rules that the trapper must carry written permission from the landowner and that economic loss from the targeted predator must be proven.

"We did some of that stuff so animal-rights people can’t say we have a huge loophole," said Rod Harder, a Salem man who heads the National Trappers Association and one who helped draft the option in the ODFW committee.

But "loophole" is exactly how Kelly Peterson of the Humane Society of the United States described the seven-day exemption.

"Essentially, 76 hours will be the exception, not the rule," said Peterson, of Portland. "Seven days will be allowed for any landowner or agent. That keeps Oregon at the bottom of the list."

Peterson stumped for the 48-hour limit for consistency and ease of enforcement. Just because predators like coyotes are deemed less valuable than furbearers like bobcats doesn’t mean they should suffer longer "because of their perceived lower value," Peterson said.

"Every minute, every hour and every day matters," she said.

The seven-person commission, which sets Oregon’s fish and wildlife policies, was meeting at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show in Portland.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com