Trapping: Cruel and Unnecessary
Animal Protection Institute
by Camilla Fox
Body-gripping traps, including legholds, snares, and kill-type Conibear traps, are the cruel tools of the fur and wildlife damage control trades.These indiscriminate traps bring indescribable suffering and death to millions of animals each year. Some are trapped for the fur industry. Others are trapped in the name of wildlife "management." Still others are "incidental" animals accidentally caught, injured, and, often, killed.
API uses every tool at our disposal — from grassroots campaigns to legislative advocacy to community education to courtroom litigation — to protect animals from cruel traps.
Myths about trapping abound. Trapping apologists frequently claim that trapping is humane, tightly regulated, selective, and necessary. But the facts show otherwise. Our documentary film and companion book, Cull of the Wild, have received rave reviews from activists, public officials, and media outlets across the country, and opened the eyes of thousands of people to the truth behind trapping.
Both targeted and non-targeted animals (including companion animals and endangered species) fall victim to traps. API has documented through a comprehensive review of scientific literature that trapped animals may suffer severe physical injury, psychological trauma, thirst, hypothermia, and predation. They may remain in traps for days or longer before dying or being killed — often by bludgeoning so as not to damage the animal's valuable pelt.
Today, fewer than 150,000 people trap in the U.S., each earning on average less than a few hundred dollars a year. Yet the federal government continues to expand trapping on public lands, even in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
API is determined to counter the myths put forth by proponents of trapping and to show the public the true horrors of this practice. Whether testifying in legislatures, presenting at conferences and community meetings, or using the media to get the word out, we are resolute in our aim to bring about the day when trapping is no more than a relic of a less-enlightened past.
For in-depth information about trapping, including up-to-date trapping statistics, a database of incidents involving the trapping of "nontarget" animals, a step-by-step guide to running a successful anti-trapping campaign, and how to get our comprehensive report about trapping on National Wildlife Refuges, visit Ban Cruel Traps
Camilla Fox - Director, Animal Protection Institute Original Article