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Dumb Laws: Dumbest Laws Involving Animals

By Stephanie Rabiner, Esq. on March 18, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Whether you think the law is dumb or there are just dumb laws, you can't deny that legislation sometimes goes a bit too far.

And no, I'm not talking about light bulbs. Not destroying the earth is good.

Because dumb laws are plentiful in this little country of ours, it was difficult to choose just which laws to highlight. Seeing as how everyone loves a good animal story, our subservient (and sometimes not so subservient) friends seemed like a good choice.

So, here you have it: dumb laws involving animals.

Did you know that you can't hunt whales in Utah? Utah, as in that landlocked state with at least two states between it and the ocean? The one with the Salt Lake that can pretty much only sustain algae and brine shrimp? Yeah, all of you out there heading to Utah to hunt whales should just turn around, because, unfortunately, you won't have a whale of a time.

Next on the list of dumb laws is bear wrestling. Now, the Alabama law doesn't specifically say which kind of bear you can't wrestle with, but it's likely that any kind just wouldn't be safe. The state law actually outlaws the promotion, engagement in, or employment at a bear wrestling match.

What, you wanted to be bait? Sorry. And get rid of that bear--it's also illegal to sell, purchase, possess or train a bear for the purposes of wrestling.

A lot of dumb laws prohibit certain activities on Sunday--lawmakers probably hope you'll go to church. But some dumb laws, like one in Virginia, take this one step further. State law prohibits the hunting or killing of any wild animal on Sunday because it is a "rest day for all species of wild bird and wild animal life."

Except raccoons. Maybe they're Jewish?

The list of dumb laws involving animals doesn't end here. It goes on for miles. And though it wasn't discussed, perhaps the best one is a former Vermont law that made it illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole. How dumb is that?

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