Trappers are Trying to Steal Our Public Lands
Montana’s Legislature is in yet another frenzy to destroy Montana’s wildlife. Wolves and grizzly bears are targets of their raid on our natural resources. The Legislature, with few members educated in wildlife biology, is dictating policy not based on science but on cultural division and exploitation. Legislators are also lying to the public.
Hunting and fishing are already protected in our state constitution. But Rep. Paul Fielder, a trapper and wolf hater, has introduced constitutional amendment HB 372, dressed up as rights for hunters and anglers, when it’s a land-grab for trappers. Putting trapping in the Constitution means trappers’ rights will trump the rights of 1.2 million Montanans to use public lands without fear of lethal steel devices everywhere. Instead, public lands will have ever more traps and snares, forever.
Legislators are falling in line to support HB 372, unwittingly taking orders from Howl For Wildlife. Founded by a California outfitter and bear hunter, this is an umbrella organization for the NRA and major trophy hunting organizations based in New York, California and Texas. These groups are using Montana hunters who don’t realize hunting is protected in the Constitution to pressure legislators to vote for HB 372. The bill would make trapping and hunting the primary methods of wildlife management. This makes clear that out-of-state people will control Montana’s public lands and take our wildlife.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/02/07/trappers-are-trying-to-steal-our-public-lands/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Grrrrrr......
"Some traps and snares are intended to restrain the animal until the trapper returns to the site to “dispatch” the animal. Euphemisms are employed to disguise the harsh reality of what occurs. Animals are often trapped so that their fur can be made into apparel. Bullet holes and bloodstains lessen the value of the pelt, so trappers often use methods other than a gun when they return to kill the trapped animal if it is still alive. After enduring pain, panic and exposure to the elements, the trapped animal will be killed by the trapper with a blow to the head using a club, by crushing the chest cavity, or by strangulation.
We are most likely to hear about pet dogs caught in traps. Deaths are not uncommon, and gruesome injuries are not unusual. The list extends beyond dogs to include our pet cats, and just about every wild mammal imaginable, but also birds, including eagles and geese, and any number of endangered species. It is a federal offense to kill an endangered species, but there is usually no consequence when trappers inadvertently kill endangered species with their non-discriminating traps.
Desperate to get free, animals often injure themselves further in their struggles. They break their teeth trying to bite at the trap and anchoring chain, and some will chew or wring off a limb. Although they may be free of the trap, blood loss, infection or inability to recover sufficiently from the injury are all further threats to survival. There are no accurate statistics to quantify how many animals die after freeing themselves or being released from a trap, in the event they are not the target animal."
https://www.livingwithwolves.org/traps-are-indiscriminate/
