A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Sen. Jennifer Fielder’s (R-Thompson Falls) bill, SB-334, that defines fur bearing animals as game animals, thus giving taking them by trapping a protected status under the Montana Constitution, passed the MT Senate 31–19 yesterday. It’s headed for Gov. Bullock’s desk. Although he’s being lobbied hard to veto the bill, I think he’ll sign it and let the courts decide whether it prevents Trap Free Montana from running a citizens initiative to ban trapping.
A similar measure, HB-212, passed the legislature earlier, was not vetoed, and now is part of the Montana Codes Annotated.
The days of Jim Bridger and Jeremiah Johnson ended a century and a half ago. Beaver and other furs are not necessities today. There are better materials for making hats, warm coats, and such. Sure, there’s a market for furs, but the existence of a market for a product does not justify the product. If it did, the market for slaves would justify slavery.
The trappers implicitly concede there’s no economic necessity argument for trapping. Their case for keeping it legal is that what they assert is Montana’s cultural heritage, a way of life, must be protected from the ruralward creep of urban softness that’s eviscerating the manly virtues that settled the frontier and made this nation great. It’s sentimental claptrap, but it enjoys more political support than it deserves because it allows Montanans to imagine themselves as special, as the last and best, as the last custodians of frontier virtues and ethic.
As long as so many Montanans and their representatives in the legislature embrace this mythology, they’ll regard trapping as something to be protected instead of what it is: a cruel and unnecessary practice that demeans humankind.