Update (February 27, 2015): This bill failed to pass the House Agriculture, Water, & Wildlife Committee when 8 out of 10 committee members voted to “table” it. These 8 are in the pockets of agricultural interests, and this bias could not be overcome.
Bill Description:
This bill makes it unlawful to use traps to kill or capture wildlife on public land. It also makes it unlawful to use a body-gripping trap to kill or capture any feral or domestic animal on public land.[teaserbreak] A body-gripping trap is defined as one that grips an animal’s body or body part, including steel-jawed leg-hold traps, padded-jaw leg-hold traps, conibear-type traps and all other kill-type traps and snares.
The exemptions to this prohibition include trapping:
• By federal, state, county or municipal government employees or agents when it’s the only way to protect human health and safety or public waterways.
• For scientific research.
• By the state or federal wildlife department to protect threatened or endangered species or for ecosystem management.
• To capture wildlife to abate damages caused to property, crops or livestock (non-body-gripping traps only). Traps used for this purpose must be checked every twenty-four hours. If captured wildlife is to be killed, it shall be killed by specific humane methods.
Furthermore, this bill makes it unlawful to use poison to kill or injure animals on public land.
This bill also prohibits buying and selling raw fur of any animal killed by trap or poison.
Background:
Trapping is a barbaric, antiquated form of hunting. Animals caught in traps suffer immensely from their injuries, long periods of distress, and ultimately die an excruciating death. Many even gnaw off their own limbs in an effort to escape, often dying of a painful infection days later. Archaic killing methods for trapped animals – such as suffocation, drowning and poisoning – are widely used today. Read more on our trapping page.
Many other animals are injured by traps or die as “collateral damage,” including endangered species and family pets. (See our Trapping Incidents Database for more information.) Even one such tragedy is too many, and these types of incidents are sadly all too common.
Take Action:
New Mexico residents, thank sponsor Bobby Gonzales for introducing this bill and for being an anti-trapping advocate against such hostile opposition!
Read the full text here.