Utah Bill Declares Open Season on Feral Animals

by Renee Evans · 2011-01-21 09:00:00 UTC
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If you live in Utah, you might want to keep a shorter leash on your pet. A new bill (H.B. 210) sponsored by Republican Representative Curt Oda (R-Clearfield) would legalize "the humane shooting or killing of an animal if the person doing the shooting or killing has a reasonable belief that the animal is a feral animal."

There's a bunch of problems with the proposed bill, and animal advocates are speaking out against it as "cruel and archaic." The Humane Society of Utah and Best Friends Animal Society (located in Kanab, Utah) are both strongly opposed to the bill. The groups are hoping people will contact Utah representatives to express their opposition, too.

Gene Baierschmidt, Executive Director of the Humane Society of Utah believes that the bill will be a huge mistake and will only, "open the door for a lot of abuse to take place."

Under a proposed bill, a loose animal doesn't have to be aggressive, sick or even feral for a person to legally shoot it; whether the animal is feral or not will be left up to the untrained person with the gun in his hand.

The bill will also allow people to legally kill rodents and other "pests" such as pigeons. Clubbing, decapitating and shooting the animal with a bow and arrow will also be allowed. That's right, those methods are considered to be "humane" according to Oda.

Animal Advocacy Alliance in Utah doesn't think shooting — not to mention clubbing, decapitating and bow hunting — is ever humane and that feral animals were protected in the animal cruelty laws for a reason.

While advocates agree the feral animal issue is a problem in Utah, they also believe there are better ways to approach it other than declaring warfare on any loose animal deemed to be feral.

One alternative is through trap, neuter and return programs. No More Homeless Pets in Utah is especially pro-TNR and has fixed thousands of feral cats through programs such as The Big Fix.

While Oda argues that letting the public shoot feral animals is the quickest and cheapest way to deal with the animals, No More Homeless Pets in Utah maintains that TNR is not only effective, but also saves money in the long run.

The advocacy groups feel the management of feral animals should be left to professionals.

Animal cruelty only became a felony in Utah three years ago. Allowing open season on feral animals would be a big step backwards for Utah's animals.

Sign the petition and tell Utah to reject H.B. 210.

Photo credit: Chris Brown

Renee Evans is a longtime animal advocate and co-founder of Animal Liberation Racing in Salt Lake City. She lives with four adopted dogs and three rescued hens.

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