Another potential case of legislative micro-management and usurpation of property rights has gone into that great circular file.
South Dakotans should not be forbidden from feeding deer and other wild animals, which could attract predators and endanger people or their pets, the House Agriculture Committee decided Tuesday. HB1085, killed 10-3, would have made it illegal to feed big-game animals. Legislators decided such a law would be tough for game wardens to enforce, and it could interfere with rural landowners.
Sibby has noted this bill, and posted more detail about it, but what the Chief particular appreciated were the penultimate remarks toward the end of his posting: “It looks like we have some who move out of the city and buy property in the country, but can’t handle the issues they face. So the first reaction is to propose changes that take away the rights of their neighbors.”
This is precisely the sort of thing that drives me crazy. It’s the same attitude precisely that drives activists like the Dakota Rural Action and their ilk to oppose rural development when it involves things like setting up a dairy operation. This has been a popular pastime here in Moody County over the last couple of years, but fortunately the local moonbats haven’t benn pushing for the deer law – yet.
Sibby’s final conclusion shows a healthy dose of reality and common sense: “While the GF&P should rightly educate people about the dangers of feeding wildlife, GF&P also has been getting an education from the rural folks about freedoms and types who are not afraid to defend it. Today they were definitely gun shy about treating those who feed deer like they were criminals.”
As the saying goes, the man has reason, and property rights were not nibbled away again, at least this time.