Senate votes to repeal citizen initiative outlawing trapping

Associated Press

OLYMPIA — In a unique attempt to reverse a citizen initiative, the Senate has voted to repeal the sweeping ban on most animal trapping approved by Washington voters in 2000.

Initiative 713 bans the use of body-gripping traps to capture any mammal for recreation or commerce in fur, along with two specific poisons. Initiative sponsors, primarily the Humane Society of the United States, argued that such methods are cruel and inhumane. Nearly 55 percent of voters — 1.3 million people — agreed.

But 38 of 49 Senate members voted to repeal it Monday, easily surpassing the two-thirds majority needed to amend an initiative within two years of its passage.

If the House agrees, I-713 would become the first initiative in state history to be completely repealed by the Legislature.

Its opponents argued that voters didn’t know what they were approving, buying an emotional argument without weighing its effect on agriculture, logging and the manicured lawns of proud suburban homeowners.

"We need to turn this initiative over," said Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam.

Since the initiative passed, wildlife complaints have increased drastically, from moles tearing up suburban soccer fields to beavers swamping reforested timber lands, to coyotes snatching lambs and calves from rural ranchers’ fields.

"They’ve been devastated by coyotes and other predatory animals," Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, said of the state’s ranchers. "It was a mistake and now we need to repair the damage."

The move marks the second attack lawmakers have mounted on a Humane Society initiative. The ban on hound-hunting cougars mandated by 1996’s I-655 was later weakened by the Legislature.

"It’s absolutely outrageous that elected officials would even consider overturning a citizens’ initiative," said Lisa Wathne, director of the Humane Society of the United States’ Pacific Northwest regional office and the initiative’s sponsor. "We live in a state where we vote on things and the majority rules."

Sen. Adam Kline, one of the handful who opposed the repeal in the Senate, scolded his colleagues.

"Can you imagine if this were a certain other set of initiatives that cut taxes?" asked Kline, D-Seattle, referring to Tim Eyman’s series of anti-tax ballot measures. "Anybody who suggested that would be shouted down."

Hargrove and other opponents of the trapping ban built a coalition of rural interests opposed to the entire initiative and senators from cities and suburbs that have been plagued by moles and gophers since the initiative passed.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife interpreted the initiative to ban mole and gopher traps, although Wathne has always contended it does not.

"Good, law-abiding citizens are out there breaking the law to protect their property," said Sen. Bob Oke, R-Port Orchard, who noted that a homeowner caught defending her lawn with a mole trap could theoretically be subject to a $5,000 fine and a year in jail.

Opponents argued that Wathne deliberately misrepresented the initiative’s application to mole and gopher traps in order to win votes.

"The initiative was part of an extremist agenda," said Ed Owens, chairman of Citizens for Responsible Wildlife Management, the primary group that opposed I-713. "It was a gross violation of the public trust. Voters thought they were doing something good and it turned out that they were not."

I-713 passed in 13 counties and failed in 26. Eight of the 11 senators who voted against the repeal represent King County, where 62 percent of voters approved the initiative.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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