Head Of The ND Veterinary Medicine Association Explains Why Animal Cruelty Measure Is Bad Policy

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Written By:
Rob Port

Oct 31, 2012
1:59pm

WDAY’s Jay Thomas had an excellent interview yesterday with Dr. Charlie Stoltenow of the ND Veterinary Medicine Association which is opposing Measure 5 which would make animal cruelty a felony.

Click the image to watch.

Here’s my problem with Measure 5 in a nutshell: I’m not convinced that we actually have a problem with animal cruelty in North Dakota that justifies any new policy, I’m not convinced that enacting Measure 5 would address what animal cruelty problems we do have in the state and I’m generally not in favor with animal cruelty being a felony.

Puppies and kittens are cute, but we’re still talking about animals. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the elevation of animal cruelty to felony level is part of the extremist animal rights agenda the backers of this measure are hoping to get a foot-in-the-door for here in North Dakota. I think they’re hoping to create real disparities in the law between how we treat animals that are hunted or ranched and how we treat animals that are domesticated so that, as time goes on, they can exploit the disparities to clamp down on ranching/hunting activities.

Does Measure 5 in and of itself represent a direct threat to hunting/ranching? No. Does it open the door for future laws that are a threat? Absolutely.

Measure 5 is a solution in search of a problem, and a bad solution at that.