House lacks votes to overturn trapping ban

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Originally published Saturday, March 9, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Opponents of a 2000 initiative that banned animal trapping in Washington may have to wait until next year to try to overturn it.

The House on Friday failed to vote on a bill that would have repealed most of the initiative. The deadline for nonbudget-related bills was Friday. While Senate Bill 5831 could be exempted from that cutoff, its prospects look dim.

Initiative sponsors, primarily the Humane Society of the United States, argue that trapping and poisoning pests is cruel and inhumane. Nearly 55 percent of Washington voters -- 1.3 million people -- agreed in 2000.

But the state Senate voted to overturn the initiative earlier this year. Bill sponsors argued that people didn't know what they were voting for. They pointed to complaints from property owners about coyotes and moles running wild.

"We have a problem," said Rep. Mark Doumit, D-Cathlamet, a legislator from a rural district who has pushed a compromise to change the initiative. "It's not like we can't live with it, but it does cost money to people."

Doumit and others said the House had 64 members willing to vote for the compromise bill -- two shy of a two-thirds vote, which is what's needed to make changes to an initiative within two years of its passage.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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