The Political No. 9: The Ongoing Horrors of Trapping Listen to podcast here
Trapping in Vermont
Trapping in Defense of Property
Trapping and killing beavers is not only inhumane, but it's a short-term solution
POW responds to Mark Scott from VT Fish & Wildlife's and his support of trapping to a POW member
Vermont Trapping Policies Receive D Grade
Most Vermonters Want to Ban Trapping and Eliminate the Wasteful Killing of Wildlife
Wildlife consultant Camilla Fox interviews Bill Randall, a former Maine trapper.
"Humane Trapping Standards" Is a Lie | Read more here
Protect Our Wildlife Petitions Fish and Wildlife. Board to Warn Vermonters About Traps Hidden on Public Lands
Trapping: Do Best Management
Practices Improve Animal Welfare? Read HERE
Demand an end to recreational trapping
Sign our petition HERE
New Undercover Investigation Reveals the Shocking Brutality of Trapping Animals for Fur and Recreation. Read HERE
Investigation Clips | TRAPPED: EXPOSING THE VIOLENCE OF ANIMAL TRAPPING IN THE U.S. View HERE
Massachusetts Banned Trapping and So Can Vermont!
Read More HERE and HERE
Here are some facts about trapping in Vermont:
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According to Chris Bernier, furbearer biologist at Vermont Fish & Wildlife, trapping is not needed to reduce the spread of disease or to manage populations. See his email HERE.
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The trapping season is five long months.
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Leghold, body-crushing kill traps such as Conibears™ and underwater cage traps used to drown animals like muskrats are all legal.
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Traps are not selective.
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Traps inflict prolonged suffering.
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Traps catch dogs and cats.
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Traps catch endangered, protected, and threatened species.
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Trappers are not required to enlist the assistance of a wildlife rehabber, veterinarian or other expert when they trap a non-targeted animal, which means injured animals are released.
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Traps cause animals to chew through their limbs to free themselves.
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Traps may be set on public land, including National Wildlife Refuges, with no required signage.
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Traps are baited with food items and lures that attract pets and endangered species.
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Trappers trap for recreation and hobby.
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Out of season trapping "in defense of property" is essentially unregulated. Animals may suffer in traps for days. No warden permission or reporting is required for landowners who trap animals under this provision.
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Trappers use the term "SSS" meaning, shoot, shovel and shut-up when they trap a dog or cat or other non-targeted animal.
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There is no limit on the number of traps a trapper may set at once, which means areas can be saturated with them.
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There are no bag limits on the number of animals that may be trapped (in season.)
PROTECT OUR WILDLIFE IS A MEMBER OF THE THE ANTI-TRAPPING COALITION. THE COALITION IS A NEWLY RE-ESTABLISHED COALITION OF ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANIZATIONS THAT WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE CHANGE IN ENDING THE TRAPPING INDUSTRY. THE COALITION AIMS TO WORK WITH LEGISLATION TO PASS IMPORTANT AND SIGNIFICANT LAWS TO REGULATE AND BAN THE TRAPPING AND FUR INDUSTRIES. THE COALITION WILL ALSO UTILIZE OUR NETWORK TO FIND LOCAL PARTNERS AND GROUPS TO AIDE IN SPECIFIC INITIATIVES AT THE GROUND LEVEL.
5/9/20: POW Press Release | Red Fox Seen Dragging Leghold Trap in Willison
The Realities of Trapping in Vermont
Using photos and videos that we've obtained of animals trapped in Vermont, we share the realities of trapping and the indiscriminate cruelty it inflicts.
We see photos and videos of coyotes, bobcats, foxes and other animals suffering in traps set on land, but there are other animals suffering that often go unseen.
This video captures mink, muskrat, beavers and other wildlife drowning in traps out of public sight. Trappers don't want the public to see this, with good reason.
Traps that are called "quick kill" are misleading. Otters and beavers are often trapped in "kill" traps by the tail or abdomen and drowned which can take up to 15 minutes. Leghold traps are set on land near the water for aquatic mammals like otters. The traps drown the trapped animals as they flee to the water for safety, since the attached cables don't allow the animal to resurface.
Read Our
Trapping Brochure
Trapping season starts the fourth Saturday each October
Read our press release to learn more, including tips for protecting your pets.
2015-16 (most recent available) season harvest numbers. Animals trapped in season as reported to Fish & Wildlife by trappers. (Animals trapped as a nuisance are not reported.)
Overview
Each year, countless "furbearing" animals in Vermont are trapped and killed under the auspices of "nuisance" wildlife control, for their fur or simply for recreation. Trappers also kill predators like bobcats, coyotes, and fisher because they view those animals as competition for prey species they want to kill themselves.
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Trapping inflicts prolonged suffering and death to both targeted and non-targeted animals.
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Laws are difficult to enforce and are often ignored.
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Ten states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington and New Mexico, as well as at least 108 countries, including all member countries of the European Union, have banned or severely restricted the use of leghold traps. Source: The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Center, “Laws on Leg-Hold Animal Traps Around the World” (Aug. 2016), available HERE . Last accessed March 9, 2021.
Trapping is the most savage form of animal capture. It causes pain, suffering, and death to countless species of animals, including dogs, cats, birds, as well as endangered and protected wildlife. In just two years, 22 Vermont dogs were reported caught in traps, and were either injured or killed. This number may be much higher since this data only represents what was reported.
Trapping is the most savage form of animal capture. It causes pain, suffering, and death to countless species of animals, including dogs, cats, birds, as well as endangered and protected wildlife.
Vermont protected species like the American marten are routinely killed in traps set legally for fisher or other wildlife. The Canada Lynx is a federally threatened and state endangered species, thereby protected under the Endangered Species Act, yet traps set for other wildlife present an imminent risk to the Lynx.
Eagles and other raptors are caught in leghold traps set for coyotes and other "furbearer" species. Some other non-targeted animals who have been trapped in Vermont include: great blue heron, turkey, screech owl, barred owl, black bear, raven, gray squirrel, snapping turtle, canada goose, and many other species. It's hard to really know just how many of these animals are trapped every year due to the secretive nature of trapping.
THIS RAVEN, A PROTECTED SPECIES, WAS CAUGHT IN A LEGHOLD TRAP AT CHARLES DOWNER STATE FOREST IN SHARON.
THIS PHOTO DISPLAYS A PAW LEFT IN A LEGHOLD TRAP. IT WAS SENT TO US BY A VERMONT RESIDENT WHO FOUND THE TRAP IN THE WOODS BEHIND HER HOME.
During the official trapping season, regulations require trappers to check their land traps every calendar day, but this is very difficult to monitor and enforce. During this time, trapped animals are subjected to the elements and suffer from blood loss, frostbite, exhaustion, predation, severed tendons, torn ligaments, dislocated joints, broken bones and teeth (from desperately chewing at the trap to escape). Many die trying in vain to escape the steel jaws of the trap. With no other hope of escape, trapped animals may resort to amputating their own limbs. Trappers callously label this grim act of despair “wring-off”.
BELOW: A COMMON METHOD OF KILLING A TRAPPED FOX IS TO STOMP ON THE ANIMAL'S CHEST.
Conibear Traps
These deadly devices are also known as “kill” or “body crushing” traps. Conibears were intended to be an “instant killing” device, and were designed to snap shut on an animal’s spinal column at the base of the skull. However, animals do not always die quickly since it is impossible to control the size and direction of the animal entering the trap. Conibears are frequently used in water to trap muskrat and beaver. Pets such as dogs and cats, as well as endangered species, have been lost to these indiscriminate and barbaric traps. Traps set on edges of ponds, and other bodies of water, are of great risk to dogs who may choose to take a leisurely swim and end up becoming entrapped.
VERMONT BOBCAT CAUGHT BY THE BACK LEG IN A CONIBEAR "KILL" TRAP.
Leghold/Foothold
Leghold traps are inherently indiscriminate and will trap any unsuspecting animal, including dogs and cats, threatened and endangered species, and even humans.
An archaic and antiquated device, this trap is the most commonly used in the United States by commercial and “recreational” fur trappers. Leghold traps, also known as footholds, are triggered by a pan-tension device, and the weight of an animal stepping between the jaws of the trap causes the jaws to slam shut on the victim’s leg or other body part.
Animals react to the instant pain by frantically pulling against the trap in a desperate attempt to free themselves; in the process they suffer from fractures, ripped tendons, edema, blood loss, amputations, and tooth and mouth damage (from chewing and biting at the trap). While these animals are immobilized, they are subject to predation by other animals, hypothermia, frostbite, and dehydration.
The American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, the World Veterinary Association, and the National Animal Control Association have declared that leghold traps are inhumane.
BOCAT PAINFULLY RESTRAINED IN A LEGHOLD TRAP.
Snares/Cable Restraints
Vermont banned the use of snares in 1923 due to the overharvesting of a number of furbearer species. A repeal on the ban on snaring in Vermont was attempted, but failed in 2014. POW's president, Brenna Galdenzi, provided testimony at the Statehouse in opposition of the repeal of the snare ban, and thankfully, the repeal was killed in committee. We must remain vigilant to keep snares/cable restraints illegal in Vermont.
Snares are categorized as either body/neck or foot snares and are generally made of light wire cable looped through a locking device and are designed to tighten around an animal’s neck or limb.
Snares do not discriminate and will capture any animal by any body part.
Due to the fact that snares are cheap, lightweight and easy to set, trappers often will saturate an area with dozens of snares to catch as many animals as possible.
More information about Snares and Cable Restraints
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The Impact of Snares On Animal Welfare read here
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Cable restraints are a type of snare and should remain illegal in Vermont. Read more here.
Colony/Cage Traps
Colony and cage traps are set in or near water and are designed to catch and drown multiple aquatic mammals at once, which can take up to 20 minutes for some species. Drowning is considered an inhumane method of euthanasia by numerous reputable organizations including the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians, yet trappers drown beavers, muskrats and otters in Vermont each year.
Capture Myopathy
Science contradicts the alleged un-harming of trapped animals and the proclamation of them being released “uninjured”.
“Capture myopathy can occur naturally when prey animals are attempting to avoid predation, but it is usually caused by humans. This is because animals are adapted to escape from predators, but are not adapted to struggle for long periods of time in man-made restraints, such as leghold traps. Capture myopathy occurs when animals overexert themselves (struggling in a trap for example) so much that physiological imbalances develop and result in severe muscle damage.
Capture myopathy may result in sudden death, or clinical signs may develop hours, days, or up to two months following capture.” This is how trapping methods to help animals, i.e. relocate, reintroduce, differs from recreational, commercial and trapping methods whose purpose is to kill. The former involves frequent and sometimes constant trap monitoring.
Consider the collateral damage and those claimed to be released “uninjured.” It's a lot worse than Vermont Fish & Wildlife reports.
Informational Videos
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The Realities of Trapping in Vermont here
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Trappers don't want you to see this.
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What if it were your dog?
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View trapping videos here.
Please share with your legislators and help us raise awareness.
POW responds to Mark Scott from VT Fish & Wildlife's and his support of trapping to a POW member.
Dear Mark,
One of our members just shared the email below that you sent in response to her email regarding her opposition to trapping. We understand that VT Fish & Wildlife Department (FWD) has a steadfast allegiance to trapping and to trappers. What you cannot do is try and play both sides by suggesting that FWD is concerned with animal welfare. Not only does FWD support the use of leghold trapping, you are not even advocating for modified traps (offset or padded traps). And you know that even with those modified traps animals still wring off and struggle violently against the trap to free themselves. Animals are known to chew off their limbs, especially if they go numb. Last year we learned of a mother raccoon and her kit who were trapped side by side. The kit chewed through her leg and was found dead in the trap. Also on the topic of "animal welfare", you fail to mention that the FWD supports methods of killing trapped animals that aren't even supported by the conservative AVMA - VT allows trappers to bludgeon, stomp on, drown, strangle, and choke trapped animals - no method is off the table. POW advocated for legislation last session to implement standards for killing trapped animals, but FWD objected. FWD also supports the use of drowning sets where multiple animals are trapped at once and drowned.
The "Best Management Practices" program that you often cite is subject to inherent bias, subjectivity and inaccuracy. The use of trappers - who have a strong interest in the outcome - as testers undermines the veracity and accuracy of the testing. The acceptable time to unconsciousness and death in the BMPs for Conibears (and other "quick" kill traps) is in the five minute range - hardly a quick death. You also fail to mention that BMPs are voluntary.
You also talk about FWD's work reintroducing marten, but fail to mention that marten are caught every year in traps set for fisher and other animals. You talk about changes to traps to protect Canada lynx in the NEK, but fail to mention that lynx can still be caught in legholds in the NEK and in kill traps in other parts of the state. While POW advocated for protections on Nulhegan Basin, on Silvio Conte's National Wildlife Refuge, that is home to lynx, you pushed for the status quo, including allowing the use of hounds to hunt. You think a pack of hounds can differentiate between a bobcat and a lynx? That was another example of FWD's epic failure to protect the most vulnerable species on our national wildlife refuge because you didn't want to upset or inconvenience houndsmen (we've read the emails.)
So long as your Department supports recreational and commercial trapping, you will be challenged with the reality that trapping is abject cruelty to animals. Photos and videos of trapped bobcats, foxes, raccoons, otters, and other animals speak louder than FWD's words. Using terms like BMPs, selectivity, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), mean very little when confronted with the reality of these traps and the suffering they inflict on both targeted and non targeted animals. We know your Department has asked trappers to stop posting photos and videos because it hurts the image of trapping. We wish instead of trying to keep trapping hidden from public view, you'd acknowledge it for what it is: an outdated, inherently cruel past time that 75% of Vermont residents want banned.