Oda’s Bill No Longer About Feral Animals

(KCPW News) A controversial animal cruelty bill that would have allowed Utahns to kill animals they believed to be feral is moving on to the Utah House of Representatives, but not the way the bill was originally drafted. It’s sponsored by Republican Representative Curt Oda.

“In most cities they have restrictions on the discharge of weapons within the city limits except for defensive purposes. Again, people can’t just go around killing animals,” he argued before a committee.

After a two and a half hour debate Wednesday afternoon and several proposed amendments, House Bill 210 would now make killing an animal legal, but for defensive purposes only. The animal would not have to be feral.

The bill got national attention and sparked outrage among animal rights groups when it was first proposed by Representative Oda as a bill aimed at controlling feral and pest populations.

“Nowhere in this bill is there anything that mentions a cat, nowhere does it mention clubbing, nowhere does it mention decapitating,” said Oda. “Absolutely nowhere; never has and never will.”

The FBI is looking in to several threats that Representative Oda has received since sponsoring the legislation.