Sent to the Traverse City (MI) Record-Eagle on 10/7/03
The Traverse City commissioners should ban the use of “killing traps” within city limits since doing so is best for Traverse City’s human and wildlife populations.
Conibear, or “body crushing” traps, are cruel by their very nature. Trappers claim that the traps kill animals almost instantly, but there are many documented cases of animals suffering in traps for hours after being caught.
Reports of conibear traps killing domestic dogs in other states are easy to come by, and these traps are a proven danger even to children. The Vancouver Sun reported that a thirteen-year old British Columbia boy was injured after a conibear slammed shut across his ankle (4/12/02). The continued use of conibear traps puts all children at risk.
Game managers present a sanitized view of trapping to the public because they depend upon the sale of hunting and trapping licenses to pay their salaries. The public does not believe their propaganda, since the number of Michigan trappers has shrunk by more than sixty-eight percent over the past 21 years. Trapping is a barbaric practice that has no place in a modern, civilized society. The city commissioners would be wise to outlaw these cruel and violent devices.
Joe Miele
Wildlife Watch