WHAT'S NEXT

  1. Signatures
    3,590 out of 5,000
    Petitioning
    1. The UT State House (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • The UT State House
      • State Rep. Curtis Oda (UT-014)
  2. Created By
    Kathryn van Roosendaal
    Ivins, UT
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Feb 09, 2011

Utah State Rep. Curt Oda introduced a bill that would allow people to shoot or "humanely kill" any animal that they believed to be feral. Animal activists in the state and across the country -- including the Humane Society of Utah, Best Friends Animal Society and more than 3,500 Change.org community members -- were concerned that not only was this an ineffective way to control feral animal populations, but it opened the door to animal abuse. The House Judiciary Committee agreed and stripped all the language from the bill that would legitimize killing feral animals, except for one line which allowed shooting to "prevent injury or death."

Utah Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, wants to change the state’s animal cruelty law to make it legal to shoot and kill feral animals. This would include not only pigeons and doves, but also feral cats and stray dogs.

Shooting is singled out as an acceptable method in his bill, but Oda said other means that would be allowed include using a bow and arrow, clubbing or decapitating some animals. According to Oda, no-kill methods, such as relocation or catch, neuter and release, are less efficient and more expensive.

The bill specifically allows "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." It does not specify that only law enforcement or peace officers are allowed to kill the animals. Instead, any member of the public may kill an animal they believe to be feral, be it a true feral cat or simply a family pet who likes to prowl outside. And how is it humane or acceptable to shoot, club or decapitate any animal, let alone a cat or dog?

Add your voice and just say no to this amendment to the Animal Cruelty Act.

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Stop Utah House Bill 210

Rep. Oda,

We, the undersigned, are opposed to House Bill 210, the amendment to the Animal Cruelty Act. We believe that killing feral animals is not humane and is not an effective way to control feral populations.

According to studies by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the American Humane Society, eradication is not an effective way to control feral animals. Studies show that killing the animals provides a "vacuum" in a feral colony - whether it is a cat colony, a pack of stray dogs or a flock of pigeons. New animals will move in to fill that vacuum until an equilibrium is reached.

The ASPCA endorses Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) as the only proven humane and effective method to manage feral cat colonies and other populations of feral animals. And HSU Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt claims “the public is not trained to determine whether an animal is feral. Thereʼs going to be situations where people could be accidentally killing other peopleʼs pets. It gives alot of of leeway and opens the door for alot of abuse to take place. We believe this bill, as written, is archaic and inhumane. If passed, the amendments called for in this bill would declare ʻopen seasonʼ on Utahʼs feral cat population. Many have worked tirelessly to develop trap, neuter and release programs which allow these cats to live out their lives without reproducing.”

Stop this bill. It is not humane and it is not the answer to Utah's feral animal problem.

[Your name]

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