In March, Born Free USA released a groundbreaking undercover trapping report in collaboration with The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International. The investigation findings are harrowing and reveal the full horror of animal trapping in the United States. Below, Born Free USA Programs Director, Dr. Liz Tyson, speaks with the investigator who captured the report’s shocking findings to find out more about their time undercover, what they learned about trapping, and what it was like to enter the world of trappers.
Dr. Liz Tyson: You have a lot of experience in undercover investigation to help animals, but this was the first time you worked on a trapping investigation. Was there anything that particularly shocked or surprised you during the investigation?
Investigator: Most of my undercover investigation experience has been in highly industrialized animal use settings like factory farms where profit motives are clear, and exploitation is often justified by the businesses as “necessary” for profitability. A remarkable thing about trapping is that the industry continues to exist almost solely because of hobbyists who trap and kill sentient animals for enjoyment.
While the trappers were acutely aware of activist pressure and the public’s negative perception of trapping, the refrain was that if the public could really see how trapping works, they would come to understand it as the “important, wholesome family activity” the trappers believe it to be.
In investigating other industries, I’ve witnessed horrific cruelty and brutal killing methods, but in all of those commercial settings, the perpetrators are usually committing these acts out of negligence or under the pretense of expediency. The vast majority of workers in agricultural facilities, however, view death and cruelty as a “necessity” of the job that pays their bills. Animal agriculture, cruel as it is, has economic incentives. Trapping, on the other hand, is primarily a hobby that specifically indulges in some of the cruelest components of animal exploitation essentially for fun.
LT: We hear a lot from the trapping community that the reasons for trapping range from protecting a long-standing heritage, to the control of “nuisance” animals, to trapping for fur, to simply doing it for fun. Did you get a sense of the reasons why the trappers you encountered trap?
Investigator: All of these justifications were used by trapping advocates at the convention, but when I was talking with everyday trappers and going out on the line with people doing it, all of those justifications were secondary to the fact that they like to do it for fun.
With almost every trapper I spoke with, it was reiterated that trapping for fur is essentially an economically nonviable trade and that there is very little money in pelt sales at this point due to a long-term depression in domestic fur demand and, more recently, a decline in demand internationally. I was repeatedly told that selling fur is a means to paying for traps and bait, but that only a rare few fur trappers make a living doing it. Most of the trappers I met went out on the line early in the mornings before heading to their day jobs.
Some people might think that nuisance trapping is a more viable career path. One of the men who took me out is a successful nuisance trapper in his mid-sized city. He explained that nuisance trapping is a slightly more lucrative endeavor, but the day-to-day work of a nuisance trapper is diverging further and further from the tasks of a wildlife fur trapper. He said most of his urban and suburban clients ask for more humane trapping procedures like live cage traps, where he can remove the animals from people’s homes without harming the animal. When hired to remove nuisance animals from farmland, he deeply discounts the work because it gives him access to land to perform his hobby trapping. More importantly though, despite being one of the most successful nuisance trappers in his city, he still works a full-time desk job at an IT firm. The economic incentive is not enough.
The heritage argument is most often wielded by the outspoken trapping advocates who are most deeply associated with the trapping industry. High-level members of the National Trappers Association (NTA) describe trapping as an important tradition and “way of life” that is under attack from activists. In some cases, they even conjure and appropriate indigenous sovereignty despite the almost complete absence of indigenous representation in the NTA convention. In reality, the heritage of the kind of trapping supported by the NTA is an inherently colonial heritage. European colonizers were responsible for the near decimation of countless furbearer populations due to over-hunting and over-trapping. The tradition these advocates are describing is a direct descendent of the idea that the dominant class can take whatever they want from whomever they please.
These justifications are all secondary to the real reason every trapper I spoke with had for doing what they do: It’s a cruel hobby that they simply enjoy doing. That isn’t to say that they are drawn solely to the cruelty. Most trappers enjoy having a reason to get out into nature and understand animal behavior. I would love to suggest wildlife photography as a much more ethical alternative.
LT: We saw so much violence in the scenes that you were able to capture – not just the killing of the animals, but the injuries some of the animals suffered while in the trap. For example, we saw a fox whose leg had snapped clean through and a beaver hanged from a tree in a snare with the wire dug deep into their skin. And yet, presentations at the conference talked about ensuring that the animals are not harmed by the traps. How do you think the insistence that traps are humane is able to persist when the reality is so clear?
Investigator: The trapping industry knows that the biggest public criticism of their practice is the cruelty of painful traps, animals suffering as they wait, and an excruciating death. This is a valid criticism, but knowing this, the industry spends a lot of time and effort trying to convince both trappers and the public that the process is humane.
One of the most notable efforts is the industry’s development of “Best Management Practices,” which are supposed to be guidelines for ethical trapping, but function primarily as a performative set of documents made to brand trapping as a responsible hobby. At the Iowa Department of Natural Resources-run trapping workshop, a DNR constable even described them primarily as a tool for fixing trapping’s reputation in the public eye.
These manipulation strategies can be effective. That’s why it’s so important to spread the reality when we have the opportunity.
LT: One trapper spoke of trapping coyotes as vengeance for “stealing” her kill on a hunt, and another spoke angrily about a coyote who allegedly killed a horse. Do you think this anger drives some trappers? Do they hate the animals, are they indifferent to them, or something else?
Investigator: I don’t think most people involved in trapping do it out of pure malice toward the animals, but when people are raised from a young age to see them as soulless beings with feelings that don’t truly matter, any negative encounter – no matter how mundane – allows us to latch onto those narratives of vengeance and of certain animals being the inherent “enemy.”
LT: One trapper appeared to reject the idea that animals have feelings. Do you think this is a commonly held view in the trapping community?
Investigator: This is the paradox of trapping in my mind. The most important concept taught to new trappers is to try to see the world and the natural environment from the animal’s perspective. New trappers are encouraged to understand why a coyote may stick to lowlands to avoid being seen, why a raccoon will look to landmarks for navigation, why a fox might fight for their life when trapped, or what considerations a beaver makes when building a home for their family. To take on the mindset of an animal, a trapper must acknowledge that the animal has interests, feelings, and desires. When the trapper laughed at the suggestion that animals have feelings, I think he was laughing at the idea that those feelings mattered.
LT: At the convention, a lot was made of the need to get younger people interested in trapping. Do you think that the practice is in decline because younger people don’t want to participate, or did you see enthusiasm from younger people you engaged with?
Investigator: The demographics of the convention were stark. The adults were almost exclusively middle-aged white people, and the majority were men. There were almost no young adults or teenagers. There were plenty of children, but they were brought there by their older parents or grandparents. I can’t speak to the enthusiasm of all youths in the trapping community, but the absence of interest was certainly a grievance among older community members.
I do believe that the decline in youth participation is representative of the rising public opinion of trapping as a cruel and unnecessary practice. The internet allows for increased access to a more diverse collection of critical viewpoints. With this, younger generations are likely reckoning with the truth about the victims of their parents’ hobbies. My guess is that many young people no longer want to be associated with that kind of abuse.
LT: You are out in remote places when you conduct investigations, are you ever fearful for your own safety, or that you might be found out?
Investigator: As with most jobs, I take great precaution to avoid having my cover blown. Unlike my many previous agricultural and fixed-location cases, I am not able to simply leave if I suspect I may be in danger. When out on the trap line, I was driven to these remote areas by the trappers themselves. Every trapper was armed with at least one rifle, if not other firearms. In one case, a trapper excitedly pulled out a pistol to attempt to shoot out of their truck window at a flock of pheasants.
That said, I follow a strict safety protocol and I felt secure enough in my cover and backstory to avoid these risks. It’s important to document the reality for these animals who – even in their best-case scenario – suffer a worse outcome than I ever would.
LT: As someone who respects animals, your work must be so difficult to do. What are your coping mechanisms while you are working in the field?
Investigator: Despite witnessing a lot of animal abuse in my line of work, it never really gets easier. While I’m out in the field, I just try my best to focus on the task at hand and document everything effectively. I cope in the long term by prioritizing aftercare and surrounding myself with others who respect and care for animals so I don’t lose hope for a better world.
The most helpful reminder is that by bearing witness and documenting what happens to these animals, people may be motivated to change and to advocate for them. That makes it all feel worth it.
LT: How did you get into this line of work?
Investigator: I was drawn to undercover investigations because those same kinds of exposés are what initially motivated my concern for animals. I was lucky enough to be able to meet with a former investigator who recommended me to an organization that equipped me with the skills and knowledge to pursue the work.
Adjusting to the job was challenging. The labor itself is often grueling; the environment is horrible; and the images of some of these animals will be burned into my mind forever, but I now have a firsthand understanding of what goes on in various animal use industries and I’m a more informed advocate because of it.
LT: What do you hope will come out of this investigation, now that it is public?
Investigator: Aiming for legislative change is always an uphill battle, but this is one industry where I’m hoping we can make progress toward the abolition of such a cruel practice. NTA leadership was very clear that they view the wave of anti-trapping legislation as a real threat to the “tradition.” Some states have taken important steps toward outlawing and restricting trapping, and industry representatives see every additional regulation as a slippery slope toward full abolition.
Ideally, with the evidence collected from this investigation, I would hope that state and federal lawmakers will consider any legislation that will make it harder to indiscriminately trap wildlife. Some states have passed laws that make it illegal to trap on public land, and while that doesn’t outlaw trapping entirely, it dramatically raises the barrier to entry for new trappers who wouldn’t have access to private land on which to trap.
Most importantly, I hope more people come to understand trapping for what it truly is. If anyone is reading this and is outraged by the resilience of the trapping industry, I hope they’ll consider contacting their political representatives and ask for steps to be taken toward ending this cruel hobby.
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