Seneca County, New York
Molly Rose, leashed and killed in a conibear trap, while walking with her owner.
The traps were set for coyotes. No fine will bring Molly Rose back or eliminate her owner’s nightmares. No animal deserves this horrific fate.
Men fined maximum in illegal trapping at former Seneca Army Depot
Only 5 out of 16 legally trapped species need to be reported in Montana. Only 4 have a quota. MTFWP harvest reports are based predominantly on licensed trappers voluntary reporting. Less then 1% of Montanans buy a $29 trapping license. Only 1/3 of licensed trappers return the voluntary reporting survey. 66,919 reported destroyed by trapping in Montana in 2012, alone!
Raccoon caught in leghold trap. It can be trapped in Montana year round, no purchase of a $29 trapping license required. It can be left trapped and suffering as long as the trapper feels like it, days, weeks. Then the trapper can legally destroy it by any method the trapper chooses and do the same to 15 species ….drown, bludgeon, choke, shoot, beat, let your dogs rip it apart. Totally legal in Montana and all for fun and personal profit! Only requirement is be 12 years old and a Montana resident. Nonresidents would have to pay for a license to have this fun. This is legal in Montana. Anti-cruelty laws do not apply to wildlife for if it did, trapping would be obsolete. Know why trappers drown their victims? It’s all about preserving the pelt to get as much money possible out of the pelt for the demands of predominantly of Russia and China. What kind of person does this to an innocent and helpless animal? Fur prices NAFA Feb 2104 Raccoon – averages of $14.05– $21.61 490,361 sold.
Tell that to the Grizzlies that fall victim to trapping.
Montana Trappers Association promoting delisting Grizzlies, goes on to dismiss trapping of Grizzlies on their public facebook posting writing “According to MTFWP 01 yearling grizzly in the past 10 years has been caught in a wolf trap. The bear was euthanized by MTFWP.”
What they fail to mention is despite the Grizzly’s current protections under the Endangered Species Act, the recovering Grizzly Bear population cannot escape the wrath of trapping. In 14 months, a minimum of 4 more Grizzlies fell victim to traps in Montana.
According to Montana FWP reports: (Trapped Non-target Montana Wildlife Reports)
One Grizzly on 10/26/13 in Pondera county suffered foot damage caught in a leghold legal set for coyotes on private land.
One Grizzly, just 2 days after wolf trapping season opened, on 12/17/13, was caught on private land in a leghold trap set for wolves in Teton county. The 473lb subadult male pulled the trap free but got tangled up in some brush from the trap drag as it tried to escape. Another animal escaping with the trap attached! All five of its toes were caught in the trap resulting in swollen joints. The bear was sedated in order to release it from the legal trap set.
For more See: Wolf trap nabs grizzly on Front
Another grizzly was caught in a wolf trap on the Flathead Reservation last year, Madel said. (article was 2013 so this was 2012). “In November, a grizzly cub was captured in coyote trap west of Valier. The cub was not seriously injured, and FWP released it to reunite with its mother”.
One Grizzly on 1/12/14, in Lincoln county, apparently not hibernating, was caught on USFS land in a leghold legal trap set for coyotes and was reportedly released “uninjured.”
Although all Grizzlies caught in traps are required to be reported, are they? What later becomes of them? How many get away with the trap still attached? How much mortality and handicaps to its survival can this low population, slow reproducing, animal withstand?
Do you think it’s coincidence the trapping season on wolves in Montana runs Dec 15 – Feb 28? This is considered the time frame Grizzlies would be hibernating. However, the grizzly is now entering hibernation later and exiting it sooner according to bear experts. Without protections for the grizzly under the ESA, trappers will be pushing for a longer trapping season on wolves. If that ensues, with the overlapping of the trapping season and the bear’s period of activity heavily focused on searching for food and attracted to bait and lures we can expect more Grizzlies will be caught in traps.
Here’s to the decent caring people who try to amend the heartless cruelty others intentionally and knowingly inflict. While one loses sleep and is haunted, how do the others look themselves in the mirror? How do they sleep at night in the comforts of their home, belly full, safe, yet knowing indiscriminate wildlife are potentially caught in their traps and snares, exposed to the elements, exposed to predation, often injured or causing injury to themselves, some with young, or pregnant, all fearfully awaiting days, weeks, for their tragic fate?
For the last 10 recorded years, 20,264 bobcat have been reported trapped and killed in Montana. Some get away by tearing off their numbed paw caught in a trap. With bobcat pelt prices in the $500 each range, highly unlikely any are ever released. As Montana life long trapper, Larry Rose, expressed in a LTE, trappers poach bobcats rather easily in Montana. Here someone witnessed the hardships and beauty of being a bobcat.
Melissa Groo, a nature photographer and story teller, visits places “on the edge of wildness, sits quietly and observes.” She was rewarded on this day, capturing the “spirit and essence” of this bobcat. You can follow this sequence of events, one image posted each day this week, and get a glimpse into the biology and behavior of this wild cat, a master of survival. Here is Melissa’s story:
I was driving along a rural road in NE Pennsylvania, and saw what I at first thought was a housecat sitting out in a field. I took a closer look and noticed its ear tufts, and realized it was a bobcat. I sat and watched it as it got up and I realized that it only had half a front leg. It was undisturbed by my presence (in my car), and it began to stalk prey. Suddenly it leaped up into the air with a spectacular arc, and landed on its catch. It ate what looked like a vole, on the spot. It then walked away slowly, intent on its next catch. It was obvious that its injury had healed over, and that it had adapted to life with this handicap. I was inspired by its resilience, will to live, and remarkable agility. One of the few lucky ones.
A missing husky, Bear, is found killed in a body crushing baited conibear trap and thrown away, dumped, like garbage. Trappers refer to the unwanted as “trash” species. Under Buster’s Law, a law resulting from animal torture, the trapper can be charged with a felony. We need this law everywhere! Anyone that would do this is a menace and danger to society. Currently a $4,000 reward is being offered. Our sympathies to Bear and his family.
As we recently shared, research confirms the closure and efficency of quick death from traps and snares is as indiscriminate and cruel as the act of trapping itself is.
Conibear, body crushing, traps were designed in direct response to the suffering trapped animals endure. They are suppose to be a quick kill trap as the nuisance trapper who set this one had intended for this obvious painful raccoon…..”was to suppose to shut on it’s head.”
“This raccoon was admitted to us after being found in a trap. He had been there with his leg caught. As you can see he chewed apart the wood trying to free himself. Please use live traps when trying to capture a wild animal to move. This causes horrible unnecessary suffering. This trap was set by a pest control company in order to kill the raccoon. He passed away unfortunately due to capture myopathy. Shock.” Heaven’s Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Center
There is no excuse for the barbaric act of trapping.
Last month, a hunter from Bozeman went to search the area their dog had just gotten caught in a snare while accompanying them cross country skiing. This is what they found. Not a quick death. Not a painless death as this poor creature struggled in strangulation to break free. “Note that its trachea is completely pulled out of its neck.” They saw 19 other snares in the immediate vicinity. All legal. All common on our Montana public lands costing the trapper only a couple of dollars per snare to indiscriminately torture any unsuspecting living thing for fun and profit while they wait in the comforts of their home
