The Retort

What Trappers Don’t Want You to Know

January 29th, 2010 by Nicole Maas For The Retort

The word “sport” is generally understood to mean two or more people or groups of people engaging in a game or competition for fun. Mutuality is implied; that is, both sides understand the rules and consent to participate.

When one side fails to inform the other that they are being engaged in a game, when the objective of that “game” is to take the life of the uninformed side and cause immense suffering to him/her and when the odds of winning are overwhelmingly against the uninformed side, the words “sport” and “game” no longer apply; the word “massacre” does.

Every year, between 45,000 and 50,000 so-called furbearing animals die across the United States via what fur profiteers refer to as their “sport” and “tradition.” This total does not include non-target animal deaths such as endangered species and dogs and cats. Federal wildlife agencies apparently do not feel that these non-target deaths need to be recorded.

In 2007, an organization called Footloose Montana began collecting reports of dogs and cats caught in traps. Visit their website, www.footloosemontana.org, for more information.

There are three different types of traps employed by trappers to capture and/or kill animals. The first and most commonly used trap in the United States is the steel-jaw leghold trap. This trap, which has been banned in more than 80 countries, clamps onto an animal’s leg. I’m sure you can guess at the types of injuries that result, some of them inflicted by the animals themselves as they attempt to gnaw their own legs off.

The Conibear body-gripping trap is designed to break an animal’s spine at the base of the skull, theoretically causing instant death. In order for instant death to occur, however, an animal of the correct weight and size must enter the trap at the correct speed and angle. How often do you suppose that happens? Needless to say, animals caught in these traps often die slowly and painfully.

Snares are the third type of trap. Depending on the design (i.e. on the area of the body the snare is designed to target), these noose-like wires tighten on animals’ necks, legs or bodies as they fight to free themselves. Body and neck snares result in strangulation, drowning (if the trap was placed underwater) and/or crushing of internal organs. Leg snares restrain animals until the trapper decides to check his traps.

There are currently no laws regulating how often trappers must check their traps, so when the trapper does check them and if the animal is still alive, he or she will be killed by being shot, strangled, stood on until his/her internal organs are crushed, etc. All of these traps cause severe physical and emotional trauma to the animals who are unfortunate enough to cross paths with them, and all of them result in brutal and violent deaths.

Trapping is a primitive, barbaric pastime. There is no reason why, in the year 2010, anyone should be engaging in it. A petition to place Initiative 160 on the election ballot in November is currently being circulated across the state of Montana. This initiative, if passed by voters, would prohibit commercial trapping (i.e. trapping for monetary gain) of all wild mammals and birds on public lands in Montana, subject to limited exceptions. Twenty-five thousand signatures from across the state are needed in order for the initiative to be placed on the ballot.

If the animal welfare arguments of this issue do not move you, then the democratic aspect of it should: Montanans have the right to decide what takes place on our public lands. If you do not believe that trapping should be banned on public lands, then sign our petition and vote against the initiative in November! Please visit MT Trap Free for information on volunteering or to sign the petition.

All Lives with Liberty, MSU Billings’ student animal rights group, will be gathering signatures for the petition and setting up information tables and workshops throughout the coming months. Keep your eyes open for us and spread the word!