NorthwestJuly 22, 2000

Associated Press

OLYMPIA -- A proposal by state wildlife regulators prompted an animal rights activist on Friday to question whether the government is trying to curb support for a ballot initiative that seeks to ban most animal traps.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission is considering a new rule that would require trappers to check all traps every 24 hours. Current rules require trap checks between 24 and 72 hours, depending on the type of trap, location and species.

The rule change is item No. 21 on the commission's lengthy agenda during its Aug. 10-12 meeting in Tukwila.

Concern about trap-check times are one of the arguments that backers of Initiative 713 are using to promote their proposed ballot measure.

They say it is inhumane to let trapped animals writhe in agony for days.

Lisa Wathne, a Humane Society official who is waiting for the state to announce whether I-713 qualified for the Nov. 7 ballot, questioned the timing of the rule change.

"It just seems a bit too coincidental to think this proposed rule change is not directly in response to the proposed initiative," she said Friday.

She said the proposed rule change would not abate concerns about trapping practices.

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"For an animal to be caught in a steel-jawed leghold trap, even for 24 hours, waiting for a trapper to come back, we would still have the same objection," Wathne said in a telephone interview from campaign headquarters in Seattle. "The bottom line is that animal is in pain and it is exposed to elements and predators and myriad other things during that time.

"Does a 24-hour trap-check time make trapping acceptable? No way."

Tom Keegan, a wildlife department official who is scheduled to present the proposed rule change to the nine-member citizens commission that sets agency policy, did not immediately return a call Friday.

But Ed Owens, an Olympia natural resources consultant who is leading the campaign against I-713, said current trapping rules expire this year and are set to be updated based upon "best management practices" as determined by trappers, biologists and others.

"With or without the initiative, the rule would be moving forward," Owens said. "This is part of a process that's been under way for a very long time.

I-713 would ban body-gripping traps, unless authorized as a last resort by the director of the Fish and Wildlife Department.

The measure also would prohibit the sale of pelts from animals caught using the traps, as well as the use of two kinds of poison.

Earlier this month, Wathne's campaign submitted the signatures of 261,000 registered voters to Secretary of State Ralph Munro, well above the 180,000 required to win a place on the November statewide ballot. Munro's office will verify a sample and report in the next few weeks whether the campaign was successful.

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