Monday, December 29, 2008

Modern Scientific Trapping

In Management by Majority Ted Williams writes in Audubon magazine that:

"When legholds are used by people who know and care about what they're doing, the animals rarely suffer serious injury.

The wolves now thriving in Yellowstone National Park, for example, are routinely caught with leghold traps so they can be outfitted with radio collars.

More than 2,000 river otters have been caught in legholds in the South and released virtually unscathed in midwestern states where the species had been extirpated. Of 14 otters captured last year by graduate student Tasha Belfiore of the University of California, Davis, none suffered more than a slight bruise or abrasion. Belfiore had spent three years designing the study, which was to have assessed genetic damage to otters from pesticides used in the Sacramento Valley. Her study might have helped preserve otters and other species, but because of the trap ban she has had to abandon it. 'If all the facts are out on the table and we still disagree, that's fine,' she told me. 'But to be making a decision based on misinformation isn't fair.'"
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2 comments:

Mike Spies said...

HSUS = emotional appeal = big $ contributions = stupid laws = more HSBS

Maybe the Hollywood celebrities will compain when coyote or mountain lion picks their miniature poodle off the back porch.

Paradise has been lost for some time, this is a small nail in the coffin.

Matthew said...

Having worked for a state wildlife management agency I can tell you that trapping is one of the most powerful and necessary tools available to management agencies today. Beyond the use of the state and federal biologist, the 'civilian' trapping end user tends to be a breed apart... their knowledge of animal behavior, woodscraft, and environmental awareness and sensitivity is often mind-bending. We need skilled and ethical trappers, the knowledge and utility of their craft cannot be allowed to die in obscurity. Regulated trapping has been an integral part of almost every wildlife reintroduction success story in North America. We need trappers.

http://www.nationaltrappers.com/video/Destroying%20the%20Myth.mp4