The Fur Trade Today – 09/21/04

Leghold Trap Information
U.S. and Canadian trapping regulations

The following eighty-nine countries have banned the leghold trap. Those marked in boldface with an asterisk (*) have banned all trapping:
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U.S. Trap Bans

Summary (actual wording of the ordinances follows in detail at end of report):

• Florida — legholds banned except by special permit
• Rhode Island — legholds banned except by special permit
• New Jersey — leghold banned to use and own
• California — leghold cannot be used for recreational or commercial purposes (i.e. trapping for fun or fur)
• Colorado — legholds are banned for recreational take
• Massachusetts — leghold traps banned in the field
• Washington — leghold traps banned except by special permit
• Arizona — leghold traps banned on public lands except by agencies dealing with public health

The following twenty states allow the use of toothed leghold traps: Alaska, Arizona (on private lands, 15% of state), Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine (only in water sets), Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin (only in water sets), Wyoming.

State Trapping Regulation Summaries

• Alabama — No teeth. No legholds with jaws greater than 6 inches. No body-gripping traps with jaws greater than 5 inches on land. No snares on land. No trap check requirement.
• Alaska — No legholds with jaw spread over 9 inches. No Conibear-style trap with jaw spread over 11 inches. No trap check requirement.
• Arizona — No traps except box traps on public lands (80% of state). On private lands, trappers must use padded or rubber-jawed traps, or an unpadded trap with jaws permanently offset to a minimum of 3/16 inch. 24-hour trap check.
• Arkansas — No teeth. No legsnares and neck snares allowed in water or within 20 feet. Daily trap check on land, none in water.
• California — No legholds, body-gripping traps, or snares can be used for the taking of furbearing or nongame mammals for purpose of recreation or commerce in fur. Daily trap check.
• Colorado — Bans all traps and poisons except box traps. May trap by permit for animal damage control for up to 30 days (jaws must be padded).
• Connecticut — No teeth. Unpadded legholds may only be used in water. Opening greater than 5-3/4 inches is prohibited, except that traps with an opening of up to 7.5 inches may be set for beaver in water. Padded legholds may be used in burrows or in water. Opening greater than 5-15/16 inches is prohibited. “Smooth wire traps” may be used in water. 24-hour trap check.
• Delaware — Bans all traps except box traps. Allows long spring traps and jump traps in marshes, streams, ditches. 24-hour trap check.
• Florida — No legholds except by permit. Live traps and snares allowed. 24-hour trap check.
• Georgia — No leghold with a jaw opening greater than 5.75 inches on land. Body-gripping traps in excess of 9.5 inches square may be used only in water or within 10 feet of water. Snares may be used for trapping beaver if snares are set in water or on land within 10 feet of water, including swamps, marshes, and tidal areas. 24-hour trap check.
• Hawaii — No fur bearers.
• Idaho — Few restrictions except 72-hour trap check
• Illinois — No teeth. No legholds with jaw spread larger than 6.5 inches on land, 7.5 inches in water. No body-gripping trap larger than 7 inches on a side, if square, and 8 inches, if round on land. In water, no body-gripping trap larger than 10 inches, if square, and 12 inches if round. Snares must have at least half of loop underwater at all times. 24-hour trap check.
• Indiana — No teeth. No legholds larger than size 3 without offset jaws unless trap is completely covered by water. No body-gripping traps with jaws larger than 7-1/2 inches unless traps completely covered by water. Snares can be used with written permission of landowner. Maximum legal circumference of snare loop is 15 inches unless at least half of snare is covered by water. 24-hour trap check.
• Iowa — No teeth. No leghold traps on land with jaw spread greater than 7 inches. No body-gripping traps with jaw spread larger than 8 inches unless placed completely underwater. Snares must have hoop size of 8 inches or less, except for snares with at least half of loop underwater. 24-hour trap check.
• Kansas — No body-gripping traps larger than 8 inches on land. No snares within 50 feet of a public road or 5 feet of a fence bordering a public road. No trap check requirement.
• Kentucky — Land trapping limited to leghold #2 or smaller, padded traps with jaw spread of 6 inches or less, number 220 or smaller body-gripping traps. Nonlocking snares permitted for land use. 24-hour trap check.
• Louisiana — No traps with permanent teeth or insert teeth. 24-hour trap check.
• Maine — No toothed legholds unless covered by water. Only body-gripping traps with jaw spread of 5 inches or less can be set on land, those with spreads 5-8 inches allowed only if completely underwater. Snares allowed for beaver, coyotes, and bear. No trapping on land outside one’s own property within 1 mile of city or town except with live traps and drowning sets. In organized towns, body-gripping traps must be checked every 3 days. All other traps must be checked every 24 hours. In unorganized towns, body-gripping traps and underwater traps must be checked every 5 days.
• Maryland — No teeth. No legholds on land with jaw spread larger than 5 inches. No underwater legholds with jaw spread larger than 7 inches. No body-gripping traps with diameter greater than 8 inches except when completely underwater. Land legholds and snares banned in certain counties. Written permission needed to trap on another person’s property. No setting legholds, body-gripping, or snare traps within 150 yards of human residence. 24-hour trap check. 36-hour check in tidal marshes.
• Massachusetts — Only cage or box traps and common rat traps allowed.
• Michigan — No use of leghold with jaw spread larger than # 2 for mink or muskrat. No body-gripping traps larger than 6 inches in diameter on land upon publicly owned lands or forests. No snares except for beaver, otter and coyote. No trap check requirement except live or box traps, which must be checked daily.
• Minnesota — No leghold with jaw spread greater than 8.75 inches. No body-gripping trap with jaws greater than 7.5 inches, except as water set. No snares with diameter larger than 10 inches. Daily trap check on land. Underwater traps and body-gripping traps must be checked every 3 days, except for traps set under ice.
• Mississippi — No trapping within 100 feet of a street or public highway. 36-hour trap check.
• Missouri — No teeth. No conibears larger than 5 inches on land. No snares. Daily trap check.
• Montana — All snares are required to be equipped with a breakaway lock device. 48-hour trap check.
• Nebraska — No teeth. No body-gripping traps with jaw spread over 8 inches unless completely underwater or at least 6 feet above the ground, or 5 inches on lands owned by the Game and Parks Commission. 24-hour trap check for land traps, 48-hour for drowning sets and underwater body-gripping traps.
• Nevada — No leghold or padded leghold traps, body-gripping traps, or snare for purposes of recreation or commerce in fur. Body-gripping traps, except steel-jawed traps, may be used to take depredating furbearing mammals or nongame species. No traps set within 150 yards of permanent or temporary residence. 24-hour trap check.
• New Hampshire — No body-gripping traps larger than #220 on land, unless set for bear. No snares. 24-hour trap check except 72 hours for under ice.
• New Jersey — Possession of a leghold trap by any person within the state is prohibited. Leghold traps cannot legally be brought across the state line. Conibear traps can be used only if completely submerged. Cage traps and snares are allowed.
• New Mexico — No teeth. No leghold with an outside jaw spread larger than 6-1/2 inches on land. All legholds must be offset. Body-gripping traps set on land for beaver may be toothed. No water traps with jaw spread larger than 12 inches.
• New York — No teeth. Legholds must be 5.75 inches or smaller on land. During beaver and otter season, legholds may not be larger than 7.25 inches underwater. No body-gripping traps larger than 7.25 on land. Body-gripping traps larger than 7.5 inches may only be used in water during beaver and otter seasons. No snares. 24-hour trap check, except 48 on certain Wildlife Management Units.
• North Carolina — No teeth. No legholds with jaw spread larger than 7.5 inches. Legholds must be horizontally offset. No #330 body-gripping trap unless at least half of trap covered with water. No snares except for beaver. 24-hour trap check, except for completely submerged body-gripping traps, which must be checked every 72 hours.
• North Dakota — On lands beside state wildlife management areas, body-gripping traps and water sets cannot have jaw spread greater than 8 inches between September 1 and end of October. Snares allowed on state wildlife management areas only between January 1 and middle of March. Snares not allowed to open greater than 12 inches in diameter. 48-hour recommended trap check (no mandate).
• Ohio — No teeth. Legholds set on land must not have jaw spread greater than 5-5/8 inches. Body-gripping traps set on land must not have an inside diameter jaw spread greater than 5 inches. In water, body-gripping trap cannot be greater than 7 inches in diameter. 24-hour trap check.
• Oklahoma — No teeth. No legholds with jaw spread greater than 8 inches. No body-gripping traps or snares. 24-hour trap check.
• Oregon — No teeth. No legholds or body-gripping traps with jaw spread greater than 9 inches. 48-hour trap check except for the taking of predatory animals. Killing traps (conibears) and snares set for predatory animals (mainly coyotes) must be checked once every 30 days. Restraining traps (legholds) and snares set for predatory animals must be checked at least once every 76 hours. If the trapping is done for “damage control,” the traps need to be checked only every 7 days.
• Pennsylvania — No teeth. No legholds with jaw spread greater than 6.5 inches. No poisons, snares, or pole traps. No body-gripping traps set outside a watercourse, waterway, marsh, pond, or dam. 36-hour trap check.
• Rhode Island — No legholds. No body-gripping traps with jaw spread greater than 6.5 inches on land. No body-gripping traps greater than 8 inches in water. No snares. No poison. 24-hour trap check.
• South Carolina — No legholds larger than size #2 on land and larger than #3 in water. No legholds set for any animal except foxes in certain counties. No body-gripping traps except in water. Snares only used for beaver with depredation permit. No trapping on Wildlife Management Areas. 24-hour trap check. Illegal to visit traps at night.
• South Dakota — No body-gripping traps on land. Body-gripping traps with jaw spread 8 inches or greater permitted as water sets only. Snares must have mechanical lock and stop device to prohibit the restraint loop from closing to a diameter less than 2.5 inches. 48-hour trap check.
• Tennessee — No legholds with jaw spread greater than 7.5 inches. No body-gripping traps greater than 10 inches. Use of snares prohibited in prohibited in eastern grand division of state, except certain counties. 36-hour trap check.
• Texas — No body-gripping traps with diagonal opening greater than 10 inches set on land or in water less than 6 inches deep. 36-hour trap check.
• Utah — Leghold traps must be padded. No leghold traps with a jaw spread greater than 5-1/8 inches. No body-gripping trap with body-gripping area greater than 30 square inches (i.e., 110 Conibear). Nonlethal dry land snares must be equipped with a stop-lock device that prevents it from closing to less than a 6-inch diameter. 48-hour trap check except 96 hours for body-gripping traps and drowning sets.
• Vermont — No teeth. No body-gripping trap with jaw spread over 8 inches unless trap is set 5 feet or more above ground or in water. No snares. 24-hour trap check, except traps set under water or ice during beaver season must be checked every 72 hours.
• Virginia — No teeth. No legholds set above ground with jaw spread greater than 6.5 inches. No body-gripping traps with jaw spread greater than 7.5 inches, except when covered by water. No snares except on private lands with written permission of landowner (snares must be less than 12 inches in diameter). Daily trap check.
• Washington — No padded legholds, unpadded legholds, body-gripping traps or snares except with permit to abate an animal problem. Non-body-gripping kill traps must be checked every 72 hours. Cage traps must be checked every 24 hours.
• West Virginia — No teeth. No legholds greater than 6.5 inches in diameter except as underwater sets for beaver. No body-gripping traps on land. No foot snares larger than 6.5 inches in diameter. 24-hour trap check.
• Wisconsin — No teeth on land. No legholds with jaw spread larger than 8 inches. No body-gripping traps larger than 7 inches unless one half of trap is located underwater. No snares unless one half of snare noose is underwater at all times. 24-hour trap check on land. 4-day check for drowning sets. No mandated trap check for sets made under the ice.
• Wyoming — No restrictions other than 72-hour trap check on land, none in water.

States with 24-Hour Trap Check

1. Arizona
2. Arkansas
3. California
4. Connecticut
5. Delaware
6. Florida
7. Georgia
8. Illinois
9. Indiana
10. Iowa
11. Kentucky
12. Louisiana
13. Maine (except Conibears, must be checked every 72 hours in “organized” towns and 5 days for “unorganized” towns)
14. Maryland (except 36 hours for tidal marshes)
15. Massachusetts
16. Minnesota (except for Conibears and underwater traps, which must be checked every 72 hours)
17. Missouri
18. Nebraska (except any traps set underwater, which must be checked every 48 hours)
19. Nevada
20. New Hampshire (except for traps set under ice, which must be checked every 72 hours)
21. New Jersey
22. New Mexico
23. New York
24. North Carolina (except for completely submerged body-gripping traps, which must be checked every 72 hours)
25. Ohio
26. Oklahoma
27. Rhode Island
28. South Carolina
29. Virginia
30. Washington

States with 36-Hour (1.5 Days) Trap Check Requirement

1. Mississippi
2. Pennsylvania
3. Tennessee
4. Texas
5. Vermont (except traps set under water or ice during beaver season must be checked every 72 hours)
6. West Virginia
7. Wisconsin (only on land, except drowning sets, which must be checked every 96 hours [4 days]. No mandated trap check for sets made under the ice.)

States with 48-Hour (2 Days) Trap Check Requirement

1. Montana
2. Oregon (except traps set for predatory animals. Conibears set for predatory animals, mainly coyotes, must be checked once every 30 days. Restraining traps (legholds) and snares set for predatory animals must be checked at least once every 76 hours. If the trapping is done for “damage control,” the traps need to be checked only every 7 days.)
3. South Dakota
4. Utah (except 96 hours for body-gripping traps and drowning sets)

States with 72-Hour (3 Days) Trap Check Requirement

1. Idaho
2. Wyoming (only on land, no restrictions for traps set underwater)

States with No Trap Check Requirement

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Kansas
4. Michigan
5. North Dakota (48 hours “recommended” not mandated)

States with No Furbearers/No Trapping Regulations

1. Hawaii

Canadian Trapping Regulations

“Statistics/Canada’s regs list” Last Updated July 13, 2004 for the 2001-2002 Regulations

General Comments Regarding Trapping in Canada

• Most common traps — snares, Conibears, and leghold — are legal in every province of Canada although some conditions may apply.
• Approximately 1 million animals are trapped each year in Canada for their fur (1 million more are raised on fur farms).
• Regulating trapping is done at a provincial level.
• 60% of furbearing animals killed in Canada are the semi-aquatic animals: beavers, otters, mink, and muskrat. (Note: Seals are not included in these statistics and numbers as they are not trapped).
• The snare and Conibear are defined as killing traps, the leghold is defined as a “restraining” trap.
• Nova Scotia can use leg/foot snares to trap bears, Ontario can use foot snares to trap black bears, Quebec can use leg/foot and neck snares to trap black bears. In other provinces, trapping bears is prohibited.
• Anyone can buy a trap without a license or a trapline (to set a trap you need a license).
• Vast majority of trapping done in the south, where the climate is more moderate and furbearers breed more and survive better.
• Most animals are trapped on long traplines, worked by a few trappers who have sufficient finances to pay thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for the rights to trap there.

Alberta

• Prohibited conventional legholds for bobcat, lynx, coyote, raccoon, and wolf (does not mention foxes). All other species must use a killing trap or a live holding container.
• Recommended (but not required) using drowning sets for beaver, otter, and muskrat and to use padded traps for non-killing trap situations, and to only use killing traps for species other than wolf, coyote, fox, or lynx.
• 48-hour trap check time, 24-hour if have resident Fur Management License, both are only for non-killing traps.
• Quotas for fisher, lynx, otter, and wolverine and mandatory registration of them.
• An export permit no longer required for exports of coyote skins.
• Wolverine carcass collection program now implemented, also have one for fisher.
• Ratio of juvenile to adult is low so they are considering reduced quotas of fisher.
• Unlawful to trap in a wildlife sanctuary (some exceptions for traplines).
• Trapping prohibited in Ecological Reserves.
• Some closed zones for badger, bobcat, fisher, lynx, marten, otter, and wolverine.
• Encouraged to register all accidental catches.
• Say Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards allows for the use of approved snares, the use of traditional wooden deadfall traps, use of cage or box traps on land provided they meet the retraining trap standard by 2007.

British Columbia

• Leghold trap must be modified (padded, laminated, or offset) for wolf, coyote, fox, bobcat, and lynx.
• Egg trap added to the list of permitted traps — only for raccoons.
• 72-hour trap check time, 24-hour for egg trap.
• Compulsory reporting for fisher, wolverine, lynx, bobcat, and wolf for some regions.
• There are some regions where there are no open seasons for wolverines, fisher, weasel, fox, wolf, lynx, and bobcat (about half the province).
• Quotas: bobcat = 2 in region 4 (Kootenay) and black bears = 2 in all regions.
• Natives not required to buy annual licenses.
• 150g weight must be added if using a #1-1/2 or smaller for muskrat submersion sets.
• Illegal to use poisons or electronic calls.

Manitoba

• Only modified leghold traps permitted for bobcat, coyote, lynx, and wolf (conventional leghold is still allowed for fox).
• Free Youth Trapping License Permits for 12- to 17-year-olds.
• 72-hour trap check time for live holding devices.
• Mandatory tagging of bobcat pelts.
• All types of legholds allowed in drowning sets until 2007 and Conibears.
• Leghold power snares prohibited for black bear.
• In some Open Areas you are not allowed to use suspended neck snares (only power snares allowed).
• After June 2007 only traps meeting Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards will be allowed, unless no traps are found which meet the standard which can continue to be used while the research goes on.
• Cautions to minimize potential contact with non-trapping users of the land.
• In the Agreement implementation schedule has that killing snares will have no change and no date limit — not even 2007.
• Marten quota increased to 4 but can only be trapped on registered traplines, except one Open Area has limited season and quota of 2.
• Poison is not permitted.
• Must have permission from Ministry to spear, break, or destroy a muskrat house, beaver lodge, or beaver dam — except you can open a muskrat house to trap as long as you close it up again immediately.
• Trapping prohibited in ecological reserves.
• Wolverine and bobcat listed as “Vulnerable” under COSEWIC.
• States “trapping is a privilege not a right”.
• Some closed zones for fisher, arctic fox, river otter, wolf, and wolverine (all Open Areas).

New Brunswick

• Harvest Summary mentions Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS) and that “conventional” legholds will be prohibited for dry land use in 2001, except for padded, offset, laminated, and drowning sets.
• Fox, mink, squirrel, weasel, and skunk not covered by the AIHTS so not affected by “conventional” leghold restrictions.
• Illegal to use leghold on marten, fisher, weasel, skunk, squirrel, or raccoon [note that this and above information at odds for skunk and squirrel — JM].
• By 2007 all other traps, excluding snares, will have to be tested and certified.
• Not permitted to keep incidental catches, must report and take to the nearest Department of Natural Resources office (DNR).
• Trap check time is 48 hours for retraining traps.
• Drowning sets must have enough weight so no resurfacing.
• Illegal to trap inside muskrat house, damage active beaver dams or lodges, use poisons.
• Quotas for bobcat and a draw system for trapping them.
• Bobcat, marten and otter carcasses must be submitted to DRN.
• Permission for private property in only the code of ethics.
• Mink sets must be in the water or based on the ground near water [?? — JM].
• Legholds must be modified (meaning instead of a conventional leghold trap they must be “padded,” laminated, or offset) for coyote and bobcat (they don’t trap at all the other land species normally trapped with legholds).

Newfoundland

• Wildlife act now online for regulations.
• Trap check time is 72 hours for non-lethal trap sets — under review to possibly check traps daily.

Nova Scotia

• Fox could be trapped in legholds even if not modified.
• Bobcat, lynx, or coyote can only be trapped in modified leghold, no mention of wolf.
• Can use padded leghold or egg trap for raccoons.
• Trap check is once every day for live-capture traps.
• Can use Aldrich snares to trap bears, must be checked once a day.
• Cannot damage, disturb or destroy beaver dam or den.
• Cannot use poison.

North West Territories

• No mention of modified leghold or restrictions on legholds except for drowning sets and that they cannot be used on fisher, marten, skunks, squirrels, or weasels.
• Trap check time is 72 hours for live hold traps.
• Website states that Wildlife Act is being revised/amended but no mention of changes to trapping regulations

Nunavut

• Drafting new Wildlife Act.
• Neck snares are legal.
• Legholds are legal but don’t specify which kind except to say “those approved by Fur Institute of Canada.”
• Adopted NWT’s Wildlife Act temporarily, in process of amending it.
• Trapping information about this territory is unclear.

Ontario

• Can use a leghold on land for wolf, coyote, fox, bobcat, and lynx (doesn’t say it should be modified).
• Live holding traps to be checked once a day, but northern Ontario exempt (i.e., there is no required trap check time in the north).
• Contrary to Wildlife Act to trap less than 75% of quota of beaver fixed by license.
• Have mandatory Season End Harvest Reports (won’t get license renewed if don’t submit).
• Illegal for someone to possess any operable body-gripping trap which includes legholds unless they’re a trapper (or was in the past 5 years) or a farmer on his property.
• Recommend shooting animals found alive in a trap.
• Quotas are license specific.
• Illegal to use poison or adhesive.
• Illegal to suspend snares on land for any purpose in a whole list of specific areas.
• Can only use a #110 conibear on mink and muskrat in a drowning set.
• No closed seasons for coyote, wolf, or skunk.
• Can use foot snares to trap black bears.

Prince Edward Island

• Trap check time is once every day for live capture and 48 hours for killing sets.
• No destruction or interference of beaver houses or dams, muskrat houses or dens, mink dens, fox dens, or burrows is allowed, and cannot set a trap within 10 feet of a house or den of beaver and mink.
• No trapping allowed within an active muskrat house.
• Can use leghold as a killing trap for weasel and squirrel.
• Raccoons can be caught with padded Leghold, coyotes with any modified leghold, okay to trap foxes with conventional leghold.
• No person shall possess untagged snares while in wildlife habitat.

Quebec

• As of April 1, 2001, “only certain types of legholds are authorized for wolf, coyote, lynx”; conventional legholds prohibited fall of 2001 for these species.
• Conventional leghold is still permitted for fox.
• Limit of 2 black bears per year and must register them.
• Limit of 2 lynx per year in some of the UGAF’s (trapping management units) (3 in some and 4 in some).
• There’s a minimum quota of 15 pelts from at least 5 species for professional trappers on traplines.
• No mention of trap checking times.
• Cannot use any mechanical or electronic calls.
• Poison prohibited.
• Cannot set snares or legholds that leave the animal hanging.
• Can only use a Stop-loss connected to a drowning mechanism or a Conibear or their equivalent [? — JM] in a muskrat den.
• Cannot disturb, destroy or damage a beaver dam or an animal den but trappers can damage a beaver den to set traps during the trapping season.
• Are allowed to open a muskrat den to set a trap if immediately closed back up — a few areas have limits on dates for this.
• Homemade snares are not subject to the requirements of the Agreement standards, but must meet regulatory requirements in effect.
• Black bears can only be trapped with foot snares with a locking device.
• Can also use neck snares with lock for the Fall only.
• Trapping of wolverines, bobcat, polar bear, and grey fox is prohibited.

Saskatchewan

• Mentions that under the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards “conventional steel-jawed legholds used in restraining sets on land will be banned effective April 2001.” Otherwise says nothing about modified legholds. Exclude foxand mink.
• Illegal to use poisons.
• Trap check time is 3 days in southern parts and 5 days in the north for holding devices or snares.
• Can use legholds as killing traps on land.
• Cannot use snares, unless they are power snares, without special permit, or if trapping beaver under ice.

Yukon

• Quotas for marten on some specific listed traplines (0 for some, 10 for some and 20 for some others).
• All lynx, wolf, wolverine pelts must be submitted to be sealed before selling.
• Trap check time is 5 days for all traps or snares.
• Unlawful to damage or interfere with any beaver dam, den, lair, or nest of any wildlife, except trappers can open a muskrat push-up to set traps.
• Banned use of conventional legholds for lynx, coyote, wolf, and fox. Modified legholds, killing traps and snares can be used instead. Conventional legholds can still be used in drowning sets for beaver, muskrat, otter, and mink.
• It’s unlawful to waste meat except wolf, bear or coyote.

U.S. Trapping Codes

Florida
2003-2004 Hunting Handbook
www.wildflorida.org/hunting/handbook/handbook_2003-04.pdf
“Methods of Taking: Furbearers may be taken with guns, live traps or snares. Live traps and snares shall be checked at least every 24 hours. The use or possession of any steel or leg-hold trap where wildlife might be found is prohibited unless authorized by a permit from the FWC executive director.”

Rhode Island
2003-2004 Rhode Island Hunting and Trapping Abstract
www.state.ri.us/dem/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pdf/huntabs.pdf
“Steel jawed leghold traps are prohibited except by special permit from the Director of DEM, (RIGL 20-16-8). Use of wire snares or poison prohibited (RIGL 20-16-6).”

New Jersey
2003 Hunting Issue of the Fish and Wildlife DIGEST
www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/pdf/2003/dighnt49-61.pdf
“It is illegal to possess or use steel-jawed leghold traps anywhere in New Jersey.”

California
Licensed Trapper Information Sheet
www.dfg.ca.gov/enforcement/trapping.html
“It is unlawful to use of body gripping traps; including leg-hold or padded leg-hold traps, snares or conibear traps to take of furbearing or nongame mammals for the purpose of recreation or commerce in fur.”
“Except as authorized by Section 465.5(e), it is unlawful for any person to use or authorize the use of any steel-jawed leg-hold trap, padded or otherwise, to capture any game mammal, furbearing mammal, nongame mammal, protected mammal, or any dog or cat.”

Colorado
Small Game 2003
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Brochures/pdf/smallgame.pdf
“Only live traps are legal for recreational take of furbearers.”

Massachusetts
2003-2004 Furbearer & Trapping Management Regulations
www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/Dfwpdf/dfw_trapping_regs.pdf
“The only traps which may be used for the taking of fur-bearing mammals are cage or box type traps and common rat traps. Hancock and Bailey type cage traps may be used only when the trapper has been trained in their use, and may be used only for the taking of beaver. Common type rat traps may be used only for the taking of weasels. Steel-jaw leghold traps, padded jaw traps, body-gripping (Conibear) traps (see below), snares, deadfalls, and any traps other than those specified above are PROHIBITED. Such traps may not be set, tended, used, or possessed in the field. There is a detailed procedure for obtaining a special permit to use a body gripping (Conibear) trap for certain types of wildlife damage. Contact your local DFW District Office for details.”

Washington
2003-2004 Furbearer Trapping Seasons and Rules
http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/trapping/2003regs.pdf
“4. It is unlawful to trap for wild animals:
(a) With body-gripping traps EXCEPT by permit to abate an animal problem under WAC232-12-142. This includes, but not limited to, padded foot-hold traps, unpadded foot-hold traps, all snares, and conibear-type traps.
(b) Unless non-body gripping kill traps are checked and animals removed within seventy-two hours.
(c) Unless animals captured in restraining traps (any non-killing set) are removed within 24 hours of capture.
(d) With a neck or body snare attached to a spring pole or any spring pole type of device.
(e) Using game birds, game fish, or game animals for bait, except nonedible parts of game birds, game fish, or game animals may be used as bait.”

Arizona
State Code
www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/17/00301.htm&Title=17&DocType=ARS
“D. It shall be unlawful to take wildlife with any leghold trap, any instant kill body gripping design trap, or by a poison or a snare on any public land, including state owned or state leased land, lands administered by the United States forest service, the federal bureau of land management, the national park service, the United States department of defense, the state parks board and any county or municipality. This subsection shall not prohibit:
1. The use of the devices prescribed in this subsection by federal, state, county, city, or other local departments of health which have jurisdiction in the geographic area of such use, for the purpose of protection from or surveillance for threats to human health or safety.
2. The taking of wildlife with firearms, with fishing equipment, with archery equipment, or other implements in hand as may be defined or regulated by the Arizona game and fish commission, including but not limited to the taking of wildlife pursuant to a hunting or fishing license issued by the Arizona game and fish department.
3. The use of snares, traps not designed to kill, or nets to take wildlife for scientific research projects, sport falconry, or for relocation of the wildlife as may be defined or regulated by the Arizona game and fish commission or the government of the United States or both.
4. The use of poisons or nets by the Arizona game and fish department to take or manage aquatic wildlife as determined and regulated by the Arizona game and fish commission.
5. The use of traps for rodent control or poisons for rodent control for the purpose of controlling wild and domestic rodents as otherwise allowed by the laws of the state of Arizona, excluding any fur-bearing animals as defined in section 17-101.”

Sources: Animal Protection Institute
Andrea Cimino, Humane Society of the United States
Pierre Grzybowski, The Fund For Animals
Lesley Fox, The Fur Bearer Defenders