Because commercial and recreational trapping is legal on our state’s public lands, one-third of Montana is no longer safe to use. Dogs’ paws and noses are mangled in traps. They’re a hazard for children. And every year thousands of otters, mink, foxes, and even wolves and eagles, suffer slow and painful deaths due to the trapping industry’s use of our public lands.
For example, while hiking at Round Meadows one family came upon a trapper’s work site – a bloody pile of river otters’ skinned bodies. The family was so sickened and traumatized they vowed to never return.
Another family’s dog was injured in a trap in the Stillwater State Forest while they were out harvesting a Christmas tree. Traps are so well-hidden in the brush or snow that it’s impossible to keep an eye out for them.
Trapping is also legal at the Smith Lake Waterfowl Production Area. The muskrat lodges at Smith Lake now appear to be empty, and due to the traps local families say they’ve discontinued their tradition of skiing and taking their dogs on the frozen lake.
On a popular trail near Bridger Bowl in Bozeman, a mountain biker’s front tire was caught in a snare. He barely missed severe injury when landing next to the rebar staking the line. To his right was a dead magpie in a snare. To his left was a coyote in another snare, chewing off his trapped foot. This isn’t unusual: One out of four animals caught by a trap will gnaw off their trapped limb.
Trappers try to misinform the public by saying trapping is related to hunting. But actually hunters, their children, and their hunting dogs are prey for traps as well. Unlike trappers, hunters follow a code of ethics, such as aiming for a clean kill and only killing their target animal. Meanwhile, studies show that for every one target animal killed in a trap, two non-targeted animals are killed – deemed “trash” animals in trapper lingo.
Montana has no trap check requirements, meaning animals suffer in the traps for many days and nights before they’re discovered. Besides the intense pain caused by the trap, these animals are left to suffer cold and hunger while being vulnerable to predators. If furbearers are alive when a trapper finds them, they’re often killed in torturous ways to prevent damage to the pelts: They might be drowned, bludgeoned with a shovel, strangled, or stomped to death.
If you want this to end, we need your help getting the Montana Trap-Free Public Lands Initiative (I-177) on the ballot this November. To learn more about I-177, to volunteer or to make a much-needed donation, visit http://www.montanatrapfree.org. We must have 25,000 signatures statewide by mid-June to get this on the ballot, with a goal of 4,100 from registered voters in Flathead County. Every dollar and signature will help!
Amanda Lanier
Whitefish