Why trapping of wildlife sucks

[2naSalit]

and should be banned...

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This animal was not the "target species" and in many cases such are killed instead of going through this with buttheads like these.

[NickB79]

1. I found some old leghold traps like that in the garage as a teen

And decided I was going to bait and trap some of the rabbits that were terrorizing our orchard and gardens on the farm. I'd check my traps every morning and evening, and shoot the rabbits with my .22 rifle to kill them.

I caught a lot of rabbits doing that, but one weekend in January I forgot to check my traps. It was really damn cold (this is Minnesota, -30F winters), and we'd had a blizzard earlier in the week. When I finally went out to the orchard and windbreak a few days later, there were frozen rabbits in every trap. One was still alive, but just barely.

I chucked those traps in the scrap metal bin after that. If I ever trap again, it will be for wilderness survival in a SHTF situation, nothing else.

[2naSalit]

2. Interestingly

I have known a number of former trappers, some from the midwest and some from around here in the northern Rockies, where it's been around -20F every night this week and can get much colder too. I used to live in WI and yeah, it can get just as cold there.

But the real interesting thing about this video is that I got it in an email from a retired Gov't trapper who worked for APHIS Wildlife Services before they were even called that. He made a living from trapping foxes decades ago but he now is so totally against it because the trappers of today have no scruples and most are out to kill wolves, though they've been catching a lot of domestic dogs. I thought I'd show one of the least offensive trapping events, for those who might be interested in seeing why it needs to get more attention, and hopefully, some legislation that will phase this inhumane treatment of wildlife out of existence. What I found as offensive as the cat being in the trap was the way these guys were giggling and laughing at the the cat and their attitude that they did some kind of good deed. (Granted they let it go and that was a good thing but having a trap line in the first place was an issue for me.)