A proposal that would likely turn law-abiding trappers into law breakers has been sent to the Oregon Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Peter Courtney (D- Salem), forces trappers to check traps every 24 hours, a requirement that ignores the geography and distances faced by the state’s ranchers trying to protect livestock from depredation by predators.
SB 6 also requires trappers to place signs all around traps, an invitation to animal-rights activists to sabotage or set off traps to prevent the trapping of nuisance furbearing animals. Currently, Senate Bill 6 is not scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. It was originally scheduled to be heard on Feb. 8.
Under Senate Bill 6, trappers would face fines for allowing a trap to go unchecked for more than 24 hours, or neglecting to put signs up around individual traps. In addition to the legal concern, SB 6 would drive up the cost of trapping, and ultimately contribute to many trappers giving up the sport, which is the intent of legislation like SB 6.
The public would also suffer if SB 6 passed. Trappers control predator populations including coyotes, as well as disease carrying animals. Trapping also benefits livestock ranchers, another popular target for animal-rights activists, who would face increasing losses as predator numbers rise as a result of SB 6. Trapping also protects waterfowl populations, and other birds, which can be impacted by over populated egg-eating wildlife.
About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.