Christabel Shokunbi
November 16, 2018.
Second-year delegate, Gourley represented OU today by presenting a bill on controlling the breeding of animals on the 11th of November. The bill was House Bill No. OU-510 called the “Animal Welfare Reform.” To me the bill had a lot of potentials. While talking to my fellow house members, I learned that Oklahoma shelters are very bad. One, Oklahoma shelters are overwhelmed with numerous amounts of animals. Secondly, the situation is so bad that presently there are kill shelters. When I gained this new found knowledge from the born and raise Oklahomans in the House, I almost froze in shock. Not having to elaborate on what kill shelters do, to me this bill seemed like a good idea. As an avid animal lover, it is disheartening to know that animals in this town are dying from overpopulation of shelters. If this act truly is able toaccomplish its goal of decreasing the number of animals that need to go into shelters, then I was for it. Personally, I did believe that if this act was passed, the constant overflow of animal shelters could be resolved. He had my vote, but then one of the House members decided to add an amendment changing the definition of animals. His original bill defined that an animal, in this case, would be considered just dogs and cats. After the friendly amendment was surprisingly accepted, the definition of animals became very broad. From that point, I had to disagree with this point because some animals give birth in large quantity. To me it would be unfair for this act to punish people with animals that naturally have lots of babies. Someone in the House even brought into consideration that if an animal with a high birth giving rate would have babies, then the individual could not keep or sell their animal. Personally, if he had denied the friendly amendment, I would have been in agreement with this bill, but in the end, I was not. Obviously, this is just my personal opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I say fight for what you believe. Not every amendment should be accepted as a friendly amendment.