The Beachcomber’s exposé four weeks ago prompted impassioned letters to the editor about Islanders’ outrage over the decision by a Sylvan Beach property owner to trap and kill a family of river otters, for the crime of soiling his boat. Writing letters to The Beachcomber editor is certainly a fine response to the killings. (Heck, I co-wrote one of them!) But Islanders now have an opportunity to do more — we can rewrite the law.

As the law now stands, killing these six otters was legal. Washington Fish and Wildlife laws currently grant licensed trappers broad authority to kill so-called nuisance wild animals, even for activity occurring on public property. Indeed, the six otters killed at Sylvan Beach were not on anyone’s land. As I understand it, their capital offense was climbing aboard a boat moored offshore — over public tidelands. Even though a person might moor a boat in public waters, far from their own land, should wild animals find that boat an inviting place to eat and perform other natural functions, Washington law allows the boater to have them killed. See RCW 77.12.240 (“Authority to take wildlife — Disposition”); WAC 232-12-086.

Yet these state fish-and-wildlife laws are outdated and out of step with the complex of federal, state and local rules designed to protect what is left of Puget Sound’s natural environment. We know about the Sound’s degraded habitat, declining salmon runs, poisoned Orcas and shrinking bird populations. To protect the remnants of our natural marine environment, laws regulate such water-related activities as dock and bulkhead construction, near-shore development, toxic discharges and harvesting fish and shellfish. One might think our laws would also specifically protect Puget Sound’s wildlife and allow them a place to live in co-existence with humans.

Recognizing this, perhaps, the state Legislature, for the first time in decades, authorized a procedure to update the state’s archaic wildlife-management laws.

Mike Cenci, the Department of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Deputy Chief, complained to me that the Legislature had long tied the department’s hands by denying it authority to revise regulations and propose statutory changes.

But at the department’s prodding, Substitute House Bill 1778, Chapter 333, Laws of 2009, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire, changed that.

Appropriately titled “Fish and Wildlife Provisions — Modernization,” it authorizes the state Fish and Wildlife Commission to review state wildlife laws, such as the nuisance-animal provision, and propose changes to the Legislature. The commission must complete its review and make any proposals before July 1, 2010.

So this is where something good could come from the otter killings. We can channel our outrage into revising state laws to better protect wildlife, at least on public property (wildlife that damages crops or structures on private land may be a different matter). But time is important.

As it was explained to me, the first phase of the process for updating wildlife laws has begun. The department and a selected group of “stakeholders” are already drafting revisions. The second phase, scheduled for March and April 2010, invites public comment on the draft revisions. In the third phase, the Fish and Wildlife Commission weighs the draft revisions and public comments and decides for itself which revisions to propose to the Legislature.

Wildlife advocates can use this opportunity to influence the rewriting process. The first goal should be admission to the stakeholder group controlling the first-phase drafting. This may be difficult. The official overseeing the process, Lori Preuss, refused to say that the department would admit new stakeholders to the group — but she also did not rule it out. The department plainly prefers limiting public participation to the second phase. At minimum, advocates should be prepared for the second-phase comment period.

Whether or not wildlife advocates can muscle their way onto the first-phase drafting group, or our voices are instead confined to the second-phase public commentary, the killings of the six Sylvan Beach otters have jolted us awake to wildlife’s legal vulnerability.

For inconveniencing a boater, Washington law sanctions killing these otters, regardless of the joy and fascination they brought to others and their important place in our marine ecosystem. Saddened by their deaths, we can honor them by rewriting wildlife laws to better protect other Puget Sound otters in the future.

— Erin Flory lives near Fern Cove, where he watches wildlife and recreates outdoors. He also practices law.

The Fish and Wildlife Department’s Web site outlines the schedule relating to SHB 1778 at wdfw.wa.gov/about/regulations/rule_agenda.html. It also explains how the public can participate in rule-making at wdfw.wa.gov/about/regulations/how_to_participate.html.

To try to become a stakeholder or for more information, contact Lori Preuss, the department’s rules coordinator at (360) 902-2930 or at lori.preuss@dfw.wa.gov.