Rhode Island House Bill 5731, sponsored by Representative Thomas Palangio (D-Providence), would have required all new animal control officers in the state be certified by the Department of Environmental Management. Part of the certification would have included training based upon a curriculum developed in conjunction with the animal rights organization Defenders of Animals.
The bill was recently withdrawn from consideration at the sponsor’s request.
Defenders of Animals has opposed mourning dove hunting and coyote hunting in the state and even protested against a Wyoming antelope hunt taken by former Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun. The group supports legislative efforts to ban many common dog confinement practices used by sporting and other dog owners like keeping dogs in outdoor kennels.
“It’s impossible to believe that a training program developed by an animal rights organization that protests hunting and lawful dog confinement practices would have been fair and unbiased,” said Jeremy Rine, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance In-House Counsel. “This bill is just another example of animal rights organizations trying to force feed their radical agenda in to the lives of all Americans. Sportsmen should sleep easier knowing that this bill has been withdrawn.”
USSA recently reported on a similar bill in Connecticut that would allow a school board of education to offer humane education courses developed by organizations like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the ASPCA.
Image by: Jim Bowen, Flickr Creative Commons