Update: This legislation failed to pass before the end of the session.
Bill Description: If passed, this bill would strengthen the existing ban on body-crushing traps in Montgomery County by removing the exemption allowing leghold traps to be used on farmland as well as preventing the use of these traps in water. Under existing law, these traps are banned on land in 5 counties. The exceptions are that, if human health and safety were jeopardized, the traps could be used. They also could be used for research, to abate property damage, and to protect threatened or endangered species.
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Leghold traps are arbitrary and antiquated. These devices case 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 indiscriminate and sometimes catch and kill non-target animals, including family cats and dogs and endangered species.