From the Howl blog above
The Fur “Loophole” Narrative Is a Smokescreen. Colorado’s Wildlife System Is the Real Target.
Colorado just watched a familiar play unfold: a well-organized campaign frames a
values-based ban as “common sense,” invokes the
North American Model of Wildlife Conservation as a weapon, and then tries to push a major wildlife-policy change through
commission rulemaking—even after the public shows up in force to oppose it.
On
March 4, 2026, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission voted
6–4 to move a citizen petition forward into
rulemaking that would prohibit the
commercial sale (and related transfers) of certain furbearer pelts and parts. CPW staff recommended
against the petition, and news coverage reported that the meeting was packed and emotionally charged.
Roughly
400 Coloradans, some say 600—sportsmen and women, pro-sustainable harvest, pro-sustainable use—showed up anyway. Elected officials showed up. People took time off work, drove across the state, stood in line, and spoke for the public trust.
And the petition moved forward.
The moment that should shock every Coloradan
Now there’s an additional issue that goes beyond fur:
political coordination.
In a
video circulating on social media, the petitioner, Samantha Miller (Center for Biological Diversity), is heard telling supporters:
“We have been directed from the governor’s office…” and urging them not to be “shown up” in Denver.
Let’s be precise: that is
her statement on video, and the public should judge it for themselves. If a citizen petition is being advanced while activists claim they’re being “directed” by the Governor’s office, that is an accountability issue that warrants daylight—especially when CPW is supposed to be guided by
science-based wildlife management, not political muscle.
What the petitioners keep telling the public
The pitch sounds tidy:
- “Commercial markets drove overharvest.”
- “The North American Model doesn’t support wildlife commerce.”
- “This is just aligning furbearers with big game.”
- “Wildlife shouldn’t be for sale.”
CBS Colorado captured the core storyline: a petition to prohibit the sale of certain wild-animal furs, in a meeting packed with opposing camps and extensive public comment.
But tidy stories are often how bad policy gets passed.
The North American Model: what it really says about “markets”
The North American Model did not “save wildlife” by banning every kind of commerce forever. It corrected a specific historical failure:
unregulated commercial market hunting, where demand and profit drove killing beyond sustainability—especially in meat markets and bird/feather trade.
Here’s the key fact that opponents keep omitting:
“A market in furbearers continues as a highly regulated activity.”
That line appears in a mainstream explanation of the Model, and it matters because it destroys the petition’s central implication—that NAM requires shutting down all furbearer commerce.
In other words:
unregulated markets that drive harvest were the problem.
Regulated use under public control is the solution the Model built.
Colorado’s furbearer system—whatever improvements you want to make to reporting, limits, or methods—is not a 19th-century free-for-all. It’s managed under public rules, with licenses, seasons, and enforcement. Even current reporting notes the commission is also considering new daily limits for furbearers—exactly the kind of “regulation through law and science” the Model was designed to do.
“Why allow fur sales for furbearers but not big game?”
Because those categories evolved under different histories and risks, and modern furbearer trade comes with guardrails. A good example is
traceability(inspection/sealing requirements for certain species in many states, including Colorado in practice), which is the opposite of a runaway market dynamic.
If petitioners want to claim “commercialization is destroying wildlife,” they should be required to present Colorado-specific evidence of:
- conservation harm caused by the regulated fur trade, and
- why CPW’s existing controls and enforcement cannot address it.
What we’re hearing instead is ideology dressed up as inevitability: “commerce destroys wildlife, that's clear as gravity.” - Commissioner Jay Tutchton. That’s not a management argument. That’s a moral conclusion looking for a regulation.
This is how the Model gets hollowed out
When the public is told “the Model says you must ban this,” but the Model’s own mainstream explanations say regulated furbearer markets exist, you’re not watching conservation. You’re watching
messaging warfare.
And when hundreds of citizens show up, CPW staff recommends denial, and the petition advances anyway into rulemaking, people begin to understand what’s really under attack:
- agency expertise
- public trust doctrine in practice
- science-based management
- and the idea that wildlife policy shouldn’t be decided by whichever faction can best weaponize a commission meeting
This isn’t just about fur. It’s about whether Colorado becomes a state where wildlife policy is made by
biologists and public process, or by
pressure campaigns and political alignment.