I wouldn't want to be Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan's dog.
Sullivan recently vetoed a common-sense amendment to Anchorage's municipal code that would have prohibited new metal palisade fences, the spear-tipped fences associated with horror movie mansions. Several moose are impaled on the fences annually. His reasons for vetoing the ordinance were consistent with his conservative values.
Nevertheless, there is something fundamentally wrong with ignoring the gut-wrenching pain and unnecessary deaths caused by these fences.
The Anchorage Assembly had inserted a clause in the proposed ordinance that required owners of existing palisade fences to remove the deadly spikes within five years. Metal palisade fences are relatively uncommon in Anchorage, but they are increasing. In his veto statement, Sullivan said the cost of making minor modifications to the relatively few existing palisade fences would outweigh the benefits of "saving a few moose."
He neglected to do the math. Saving a few moose each year -- local wildlife managers estimate at least two to four moose are impaled by palisade fences in Anchorage annually -- means saving 20 to 40 moose in a decade. Furthermore, with his veto, the mayor virtually ensured that more of these fences will be erected, leading to an increasing death toll.
Removing or capping the spikes on a palisade fence is not unduly onerous or expensive. The spikes can be removed with a hand grinder or reciprocating saw or they can be capped with a strip of angle iron. But Sullivan doesn't like those solutions, which he believes will "destroy the aesthetics of the fence."
As if preventing another moose from being impaled isn't worth sacrificing a pretty fence.
There's also the argument that these gothic-style fences are needed to deter intruders. During deliberation on the proposed ordinance, Assembly member Amy Dembowski claimed, "… nobody's going to scale the fence." She obviously hasn't climbed many fences. I have, and a metal palisade fence is no big deal. I certainly wouldn't give away my guns if I suddenly found one encircling my home. The impregnability of these fences is an illusion.
So is fostering the pretense that one cares about moose by insisting that the ordinance is uncalled for because many more moose are killed by motor vehicles on Anchorage's roads than by impalement on gothic fences. Yes, vehicles kill more moose. But refusing to save moose from deadly fences until society solves the seemingly intractable problem of getting the Alaska Department of Transportation to reduce posted speed limits is a patently fallacious argument. Why not try both, or at least address the more easily avoidable cause of deaths, which is the proliferation of a good-looking fence that subjects moose to a slow and gruesome death?
The simple solution to Sullivan's veto would be for the Assembly to override it. However, the ordinance passed 6-5, and convincing two dissenting lawmakers to vote in favor of overriding the veto is unlikely. If anything, the dissenting Assembly members are less empathetic than the mayor. During the debate on the proposed ordinance, Assembly member Dick Traini said, "We don't represent the moose." Echoing the mayor -- who said the cost of retrofitting existing palisade fences "does not warrant this level of government intrusion" -- Dembowski accused the ordinance of overreaching. Not only that but the fences, she admitted vacuously, "are very nice looking." According to John Aronno of Alaska Commons, Assembly member Bill Starr simply said, " ... the moose gets impaled, oh well."
I wonder how these politicians feel about state and municipal laws governing animal cruelty. Just another example of government intrusion? So the dog gets clubbed to death, oh well?
If your neighbor owned a fence that routinely impaled his dogs, would you shrug and say "oh well"?
But like I said, it's improbable that the majority of Anchorage residents can convince two of the five lawmakers who believe palisade fences are attractive and well worth the mutilation and torture of a few odd moose to change their vote. The Assembly could also address the impasse by drafting another version of the ordinance, one that doesn't require retrofitting all existing palisade fences.
I'd be satisfied with that, but I'm not sure our mayor wouldn't veto it again.
I'm willing to give him the opportunity to show us what he really thinks about unnecessary animal suffering and cruelty. Maybe he pets his dog more than he kicks it. Maybe he doesn't even own a dog.
Maybe if he actually watched a moose draped over one of these fences writhing in pain for hours on end as the cold metal spikes slowly disembowel the helpless animal, maybe then he'd sign the ordinance.
Rick Sinnott is a former Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist. Contact him at rickjsinnott@gmail.com
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.