For Immediate Release January 8, 1997

Trapped by the Trapping Ban

by Christopher Little

When all the votes had been tabulated in the November general election, backers of Amendment 14, the controversial trapping ban initiative, outnumbered opponents by about 4%. The passage of the trapping ban was significant, and not just because a traditional and necessary means of predator control was outlawed in a Western state. The ban also highlights the problems of the widening "culture gap" between urban and rural Colorado, and the growing tension between majority rule and property rights.

The initiative amends the Colorado Constitution to prohibit the use of leghold or body-gripping traps and poison to take wildlife on public or private land. Because the amendment would adversely affect farmers and ranchers — and probably because the amendment's architects knew that the ban would not be passed without some exception — the trapping ban includes a provision for a 30-day period every year in which predators could be killed by trapping, but only if it can be proven that predators cannot be controlled by firearms or other means. So as not to make the lives of urbanites more messy, mousetraps were conveniently excluded from the trap ban.

Ranchers raised three counter-arguments prior to the election: a) Trapping has long been an accepted and necessary means of protecting livestock; b) The 30-day conditional exemption puts an undue burden of proof upon farmers and ranchers, and is not long enough to protect livestock during the lambing and calving seasons; c) The losses incurred by ranchers as a result of the ban arguably amount to an unconstitutional "taking" of private property, since there is no provision to reimburse the ranchers and farmers for the livestock lost to predators. Enforcement of the measure may prove to be impossible.

These commonsense observations fell on the deaf ears of Amendment 14's supporters. Anti-trapping groups went straight for the heartstrings, sponsoring graphic television spots showing animals caught in traps or maimed by them.

The passage of Amendment 14 is an instance of something the Founding Fathers feared about democracy: The tyranny of a an ill-informed, emotionally manipulated majority. Fisher Ames foresaw the potential of democracy to become "a creature of emotion and impulse." James Madison agreed and warned that government must therefore be "capable of protecting the rights of property against the spirit of democracy." These two factors, popular passion and the disdain for property rights, were clearly at work here.

On the matter of emotion, the sensationalistic media images mentioned above surely helped to sway undecided voters. But it simply didn't dawn on those who voted for the amendment that animal suffering is an inherent part of nature's cruel, predatory scheme. Clearly, the suffering that nature regularly inflicts upon animals through disease, bitter cold, starvation and predation is no less intense, when all considerations are weighed, than the suffering caused by a trap or by poison. While the sight of an animal caught in a leghold trap should be disconcerting to anyone with a scintilla of compassion, reason demands an answer to the question of how this means of controlling predators is any more inhumane than nature itself.

On the matter of property rights, those who voted for the amendment threw principle to the wind along with reason. They opted, in essence, to confiscate property from those hard working folks who produce beef, leather and wool. And this simply because they did not care to understand the necessary role trapping plays in the production and affordability of these goods, which all of us except the most dogmatic of animal rights advocates enjoy.

The current ballot initiative process by which the Colorado Constitution may be amended by popular vote was intended to give the people a means of safeguarding their rights. The Tabor Amendment requiring the approval of the people for any tax increase is an example of the way in which they protected their property rights under this process. Unfortunately, the Colorado Constitution is becoming a "legislative" battleground for moral crusaders wielding simple majorities who wish to destroy the rights of others rather than protect them.

Amendment 14 may well face lawsuits based on the "taking" argument, as well as legislation redefining "game" in such a way as to provide a way for ranchers to be compensated by the state for losses due to predators. Lawsuits and legislation aside, there are signs that the amendment's provisions may not be widely complied with. People tend to resist the confiscatory schemes of governments. This is even more the case in the libertarian rural culture of the Western states, where "Sagebrush Rebellions" have been waged against the intrusions of federal bureaucrats. That the passage of Amendment 14 might create the justification for a similar rebellion against what is perceived as the irrational intrusions of democracy was another matter the amendment's architects perhaps didn't consider.

Chris Little is a writer for the Independence Institute, a free-market think-tank located in Golden, Colorado.

This article, from the Independence Institute staff, fellows and research network, is offered for your use at no charge. Independence Feature Syndicate articles are published for educational purposes only, and the authors speak for themselves. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any election or legislative action.
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