The fight pits fur trappers versus other outdoorsmen, some hunters, some trappers themselves. John Reynolds generals the latter. A trapper by hobby, Reynolds got called into duty after his dog Penni suffered a gruesome fate.
He walked on snow-patched government land 25 miles northeast of Brainerd, finding fox tracks and no signs of humans. Penni accompanied Reynolds when he came back to set leg-hold traps, those devices that catch by appendage, which are rarely fatal and must be checked by trappers daily, according to state law.
It'd take 15 minutes to set them, and his springer spaniel never strayed. Reynolds was sure of his simple plan.
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| The trap that killed Hank was in the brush alongside this trail. (Jacob Barker/CBC ) |
But Penni took her last breath after sticking her snout in a plastic box baited with meat. What's called a body-gripping trap exploded into action, crushing her trachea and probably fracturing the dog's spine.
"She was dead before I even knew she'd been caught," he remembers.
It's a conflict that flames anew every fall. Hunters take to the woods starting in September, trappers a month later when the season for raccoons, badgers, and foxes opens.
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| Animal Control officer rescues cat from leg hold trap in Omaha alley |
Body grips remain the trap of choice for Minnesota's estimated 5,000 trappers. Not because they're more effective, but because they only have to be checked every three days, according to Reynolds, president of Dog Lovers 4 Safe Trapping MN. That sloth and the refusal to remedy it, he says, has already claimed hundreds of canine casualties over the years.
"[Leg-holds] catch more animals," Reynolds says. "With body grips, you'll can have bobcats that lay in front of the box, but won't stick their head in. You'll hear various arguments against changing the ways trapping is done, but I'm telling you it's because they don't want to check their traps every day that's really the driving force."
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| Canada: Unleashed dog died after being caught in a baited snare |
Reynolds' group has taken the issue to St. Paul repeatedly. It wants new regulations that would spare dogs the death Penni suffered. Foremost, it wants body grips taken off the ground. That would mean trappers must affix the rigged enclosures five feet up a tree or submerged in water.
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| New York: Instead of charging Clint Moosman, 53, and James Brown, 80, with animal cruelty for killing Molly Rose, they're issued illegal trapping tickets. By the way, not mentioned is the fact that Moosman is currently employed as a Nuisance Animal Control officer for Seneca Falls. |
"That would go a long way to help fix what's wrong," says Reynolds, who stopped grouse hunting four years ago out of fear for the safety of his bird dogs.
Minnesota Trappers Association President Jerry Larsen didn't respond to repeated messages seeking comment.
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| Canada: Sheepdog Gracie nearly dies in baited trap on hiking trail |
According to a recent DNR survey of trappers, respondents overwhelmingly said greater regulation on body grips would hurt their ability to catch the likes of fisher, marten, and bobcats. Moreover, when asked if they were concerned about dogs dying accidentally, only 18 percent said yes.
Trappers' allies are many in St. Paul. Bills have been introduced in each of the five past sessions. In every instance they've been banished to committee, where they die.
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| Commissioner Mark Doerr, shown here, doesn't care about animals. If he did, he would push to ban ALL traps. |
"I don't think there is appetite at the Legislature to make any changes," Rep. Tony Cornish (R-Good Thunder) told the Star Tribune in 2012. "We can't solve all the world's problems with over-regulation."
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| Jamie Olson who works in Wyoming for Wildlife Services encourages his dogs to attack a trapped coyote, which is already dehydrated and weak from its earlier struggles to escape the leghold trap. They rip the coyote to pieces. |
Reynolds disagrees. He believes the issue will attract enough support next session to make it to the floor for a vote.
"The number of dogs killed like this doesn't have to be reported so we don't know how many," he says. "We do hear stories. There will be more and more of them if trappers don't change our ways."
(City Pages - Aug 15, 2016)
Related:
- New York: Instead of charging Clint Moosman, 53, and James Brown, 80, with animal cruelty for killing Molly Rose, they're issued illegal trapping tickets. By the way, not mentioned is the fact that Moosman is currently employed as a Nuisance Animal Control officer for Seneca Falls.
- Canada: Sheepdog Gracie nearly dies in baited trap on hiking trail
- Canada: Unleashed dog died after being caught in a baited snare
- Idaho Fish and Game proves that they care nothing about animals - just money garnered from hunters and trappers
- Pet cat’s leg amputated after getting caught in illegal trap
- Robert Schabel, charged with animal cruelty after shooting dog caught in leg hold trap in his yard
- Animal Control officer rescues cat from leg hold trap in Omaha alley
- Hay River family dog Hank killed by abandoned wolf trap
- Photos of animal abuse posted on federal wildlife specialist's Facebook stirs anger
- Wyoming coyote trapper defends graphic photos
Just wait until a single predatory pit bull, out looking for a child to kill, get stuck in one of these traps. Then the legislators will suddenly ban all traps that are even possibly, maybe harmful to pit bull types.
ReplyDeleteWe have gone totally corrupt and clinicly insane as a nation, that we tolerate this from our supposed reps and lawmakers.