Legislation Could End Horrific Trapping Practices On Federally-Owned Lands
Animal trapping fuels an industry of cruelty and death in the United States, and a recent investigation by Animal welfare and conservation non-profit Born Free USA, working in collaboration with Humane Society International and the Humane Society of the United States,
According to a press release from Born Free USA, an undercover investigator attended the National Trappers Association Convention in Iowa and a state-sponsored Trappers Education Course, before witnessing how three trappers applied their skills in the field.
Leg-hold and foot-hold traps can put animals in great pain before they eventually die.
The investigation, which can be downloaded from the Born Free USA website, uncovered raccoons being bludgeoned with a baseball bat while trapped inside cages. A trapper later stood on the neck of one of the beaten raccoons, throwing the bodies of the animals into the back of a pickup truck. When one of the raccoons later started moving, it was hit multiple times again with the bat.
“I don’t know what his [expletive] problem is,” the trapper can be heard saying while mercilessly bashing the raccoons.
New video evidence has uncovered the dark truth about fur farming in the U.S.
Further, the video uncovered a dead fox in a leghold trap that had snapped its own leg in the struggle to escape, and a dead cat, unintended victims of indiscriminate hunting methods. A representative from the Department of Natural Resources can also be heard in the video giving information on loopholes in Iowa’s trapping law, while trainers on one of Iowa’s state sponsored education course laugh about illegal hunting practices.
“The evidence captured as part of this investigation is difficult to watch, but it is important,” said Angela Grimes, CEO of Born Free USA. “This inexcusable cruelty is meted out to millions of animals each year across the country. The indiscriminate nature of these types of traps, the inevitable suffering that they cause, and the fact that the U.S. is trailing behind other countries that have already taken steps to ban these archaic contraptions, all point to one thing: it is time for a trapping ban.”
According to Born Free USA, Animals in fur farms live miserable lives in confinement. Today only six states have regulations for minimum standards of care for animals in fur farms.
In 2020 and 2021, millions of mink were culled in Europe to stop the spread of disease.
The potential for the spread of disease is greater in factory farms where animals are packed together tightly. In 2020 and 2021, millions of mink farmed for the fur industry in the Netherlands were killed to stop the spread of coronavirus disease.
Fur farms in the United States are not immune to outbreaks for disease, either. Not only have mink in fur farms in Utah, and Wisconsin tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus, which can cause COVID-19 in humans, toxoplasmosis and canine distemper outbreaks have also been reported.
As Vox reports, anti-cruelty statutes largely exclude farmed animals, including those used for their fur, but public sentiment and protests over the last decade have prompted more states to ban fur.
“Fur is a dying industry, it’s outmoded and out of step with today’s views on animal welfare and the environment,” said Kitty Block, CEO of Humane Society International and President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. “The horrific treatment of animals seen in this investigation is cruelty and nothing more. These antiquated traps force helpless animals to endure unimaginable pain for hours or even days, only to be brutally beaten to death. It is inconceivable why anyone would want this unnecessary suffering for fashion to continue. Designers, department stores and legislators in the United States and around the world have the power to end this suffering by banning this trade and going fur-free.”
Body-gripping traps are banned a few U.S. states, but at least 100 other countries.
While animals in fur farms live miserable lives in confinement, those trapped in the wild often face an even worse fate.
The latest method of trapping to come under scrutiny are body-gripping traps. According to the Animal Welfare Institute,
These traps are used to trap and kill millions of animals each year in the United States. Due to their nonselective nature, Conibear and steel-jaw leghold traps injure not only the wildlife species sought by trappers for their pelts, but also a wide array of unintended victims, including endangered and threatened species, companion animals, and even people.
The Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act, H.R. 4716 would prohibit body-gripping, leg-hold, snare and similar traps within the National Wildlife Refuge System. It was first introduced to the House of Representatives in December 2019 before being referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife.
“Lawmakers have it within their power to end this suffering, and we implore them to do so by lending their support to the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act as an important first step,” Grimes said. “It is beyond time to consign this outdated practice to the rubbish bin of history.”
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