Update: This bill did not complete the legislative process prior to adjournment.
Bill Description: If passed, this bill would ban the use of steel-jawed leghold traps, Conibear traps, and snares within 100 feet of public nature preserves, hiking trails and other open spaces and within 500 feet of day care centers and houses of worship. Also, signs must be posted on public lands where trapping is allowed.
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Leghold and Conibear traps and snares are arbitrary and antiquated and they represent a threat to public safety. These devices cause immense suffering as the animals they capture may die of dehydration, starvation, or predation from other animals if the trapper fails to check the device soon after the animal stumbles into it. Furthermore, these devices are not species-selective. They are an indiscriminate killing method that sometimes catches and kills non-target animals, including family cats and dogs and endangered species. As a result, this bill will enhance public safety.