Letter: Animal-rights-group-backed measure needs a no vote

I used to hate it when my mom used to say, “If so-and-so jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” as a way to teach me that you shouldn’t do something because everybody else is doing it. Her lesson: you should be an independent thinker and do what is right for your situation, not somebody else’s.

That’s good advice for both peer-pressure-prone teenagers and pushers of the problematic Measure 5, who argue that North Dakota needs this faulty legislation because everyone else is doing it.

They justify this poorly worded, animal-rights-group-backed measure by saying that North Dakota has a near-failing grade when it comes to humane treatment laws. Who’s the teacher grading that report card? None other than the Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s wealthiest animal rights organization that works day in and day out to put farmers and ranchers out of business. Do not confuse HSUS with your local animal shelter that actually cares for animals. This is an entirely different outfit.

HSUS docked North Dakota’s grade for things like allowing hunting on Sundays and not having a law against the sale of cat fur. I know it sounds crazy, but this illogical report card is among the “proof” promoters use to make a case that we need this faulty ballot measure.

Check out the HSUS report card at http://humanewatch.org/index.php/site/post/most_meaningless_scorecard/.

North Dakotans can write our own laws. We don’t need outside groups telling us we have to change just because another state has a particular law.

Acts such as those spelled out in Measure 5 have been documented only twice in 21 years in North Dakota, according to an issues watchdog group.

I don’t think it is necessary to jump off the Measure 5 bridge when this stuff isn’t even happening here.

Vote no on Measure 5.

Weston Dvorak, Manning

Tags: opinion, letter, letters