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Trapping (Animal)
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The activity of animal trapping has two separate but related meanings. It describes the hunting of animals to obtain their furs, which are then used for clothes and other articles, or sold / bartered (see fur trade). Trapping also relates to the use of traps to catch animals for a variety of other purposes, most usually for food, wildlife management, or pest control.
Trapping other animals for food is also practiced by some animals and a few plants.
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Encyclopedia
The activity of animal trapping has two separate but related meanings. It describes the hunting of animals to obtain their furs, which are then used for clothes and other articles, or sold / bartered (see fur trade). Trapping also relates to the use of traps to catch animals for a variety of other purposes, most usually for food, wildlife management, or pest control.
Trapping other animals for food is also practiced by some animals and a few plants. For example, many species of spiders (see Spider web) and the Venus flytrap trap their prey.
History
Animal trapping is perhaps one of the first methods of hunting. A passage from the self-titled book by Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi describes Chinese methods used for trapping animals during the 4th century BC. The Zhuangzi reads, "The sleek-furred fox and the elegantly spotted leopard...can’t seem to escape the disaster of nets and traps.” "Modern" Steel jaw-traps were first described in western sources as early as the late 16th century. The first mention comes from Leonard Mascall's book on animal trapping. It reads, "a griping trappe made all of yrne, the lowest barre, and the ring or hoope with two clickets." The mouse trap, with a strong spring mounted on a wooden base, was patented in 1910 by James Henry Atkinson, a trap maker from Leeds, England.
Trapping was widely used in the early days of North American settlements (such as the Canadian Fur Brigade). Native Americans trapped fur bearing animals with pits, dead falls, and rudimentary snares.
Trappers were the first Europeans to travel across the plains and into the Rocky Mountains in search of fur. While some trappers roamed out of personal curiosity, the monarchs and trading companies of Europe invested heavily into voyages of exploration. The race was on to establish trading posts with the natives of North America, as trading posts could also function as forts and legitimize territorial claims.
The white trappers used steel leg hold traps as well as snares and dead falls. Beaver was one of the main animals of interest to the trappers as the fur wore well in coats and hats. Beaver hats became popular in the early 1800s but towards the end of the century beaver became scarce in many areas and extirpated in others. The decline in key species of fur-bearers, due to over-harvesting, and the later emergence of the first regulatory laws marked the end of the heyday of unregulated trapping. Many trappers turned to buffalo hunting, serving as scouts for the army or leading wagon trains to California and other parts of the west.
Use of traps
Trapping requires time and energy but can be very efficient. Trapping may be safe and inexpensive for the trapper, but in modern times it has become controversial, because of its alleged cruelty. In part to address these concerns, in 1996, the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, an organization made up of state and federal fish and wildlife agency professionals, began testing traps and compiling recommendations “to improve and modernize the technology of trapping through scientific research” known as Best Management Practices. As of October 2008, BMP recommendations for trapping 10 common furbearers had been published.
Trapping is regularly used for pest control most commonly of beaver, coyote, raccoon, cougar, bobcat, Virginia opossum and fox in order to limit damage to farming, ranching, and property. Federal authorities in the United States use trapping as the primary means to control predators that prey on endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica), California least tern (Sterna antillarum browni) and desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Proponents claim that trapping can reduce numbers of predators in order to increase the populations of quarry species for hunting. They also claim that it can be used to control over population. Trapping is also used for research and relocation of wildlife.
Many wildlife biologists support the use of regulated trapping for sustained harvest of some species of furbearers. They claim that trapping can be an effective method of managing or studying furbearers, controlling damage caused by furbearers, and at times reducing the spread of harmful diseases. These biologists believe that regulated trapping is a safe, efficient, and practical means of capturing individual animals without impairing the survival of furbearer populations or damaging the environment. They also support regulatory and educational programs, research to evaluate trap performance and the implementation of improvements in trapping technology in order to improve animal welfare.
Despite regulations, trappers sometimes leave traps unattended for long periods of time and trap animals out of season, leading to fines, restitution and trapping license revocations.
Traps
Today most of the traps used can be easily divided into five types: body gripping traps, snares, foothold traps, cages and glue traps.
Body gripping/conibear traps
The body gripping traps are traps designed to kill the trapped animal quickly. They are frequently called "Conibear" traps after Canadian Frank Conibear who first constructed this type of trap, which is similar to a simple mousetrap. The prey animal must be lured with a bait or guided into the correct position before the trap is triggered. The trap is designed to strike at the back of the neck or behind the shoulders of the targeted animal and dislocate the spine. The Humane Society of the United States claims that animals caught in these traps "can suffer lacerations, broken bones, and joint dislocation". Mouth, tooth and jaw injuries may result from trapped animals biting the trap.
In Montana, a non-profit anti-trapping group named Footloose Montana, teaches people how to release their pets from animal traps. In the first four months of 2008, the group documented 12 dogs caught in traps during an undefined time period, three of which died. Trappers claimed that the dog owners shared the blame for these animal deaths and injuries. A golden eagle was also documented to have been killed in a conibear trap in January 2008 in Montana.
Deadfall traps
A dead fall is a heavy rock or log that is tilted on an angle and held up with branches, one of them that serves as a trigger. When the animal moves the trigger which may have bait on or near it, the rock or log falls, crushing the animal. The figure-four deadfall is a popular and simple trap constructed from materials from the bush.
Snares
Snares are anchored cable or wire nooses set to catch wild animals such as foxes, rabbits and coyotes. They are also widely used by subsistence and commercial hunters for bushmeat consumption and trade in African forest regions.
Snares are one of the simplest and are claimed to be one of the most effective traps. Snares are cheap to produce and easy to set in large numbers. A snare traps an animal around the neck or the body and tightens around the animal, restraining it. They are widely criticised by animal welfare groups for their alleged cruelty. UK users of snares accept that over 40% of animals caught in some environments will be non-target animals, while in the USA non-target catches reported by users of snares in Michigan are just over 10%. Some scientists believe that in animals which are trapped, pressure necrosis may have caused hidden injury to the animal, and that trapped animals should be taken to a vet rather than released. However, trappers claim that modifications and regulations now provide working snares that have relaxing locks that do not cinch down, break-away locks that open up after 250 pounds of pressure are exacted (allowing large dogs, calves and deer to remain unharmed), deer stops which prevent the snare from closing down so far as to catch a deer's leg, and live-catch stops that prevent the snare from closing to a point that chokes an animal of a certain size. Powered snares use the option of a spring to deposit the snare on an animal's leg or neck through the triggering of a spring mechanism.
Legality
Snares are illegal in much of Europe. In other jurisdictions, they are regulated. For example, in Iowa, snares have to have a 'deer stop' which stops a snare from closing all the way. In the United Kingdom, snares must be 'free-running' so that they can relax once an animal stops pulling, thereby allowing the trapper to decide whether to harvest the animal or release it. Following a consultation on options to ban or regulate the use of snares, the Scottish Executive announced a series of measures on the use of snares, such as the compulsory fitting of safety stops, ID tags and marking areas where snaring takes place with signs.
Foothold traps
Probably most commonly associated with trapping, the foothold trap is made up of two jaws, a spring of some sort, and a trigger in the middle. When the animal steps on the trigger the trap closes around the foot, preventing the animal from escaping. Usually some kind of lure is used to position the animal, or the trap is set on an animal trail. Foothold traps set for beaver, mink, river otter, and muskrat are positioned in shallow water along the shores and banks of rivers, lakes and ponds. Sometimes the trap is attached to a weight sunk in deeper water. The animal, when caught by the foot, tries to escape by diving into deep water and drowns. Traditionally, these traps had tightly closing jaws to make sure the animal stayed in place.
Modified traps are now available with offset jaws, or lamination, or both, both of which decrease pressure on the animals legs. Traps are also available with a padded jaw, which has rubber inserts inside the jaws to reduce animal injuries. However these traps are more expensive and not widely employed except by research and conservation experts. A single number 3 foothold trap which has a 6 inch jaw spread and commonly used for trapping beaver and coyote costs about 10 to 15 dollars depending on the make, while a padded jaw or "Soft Catch" trap cost from 12 to 20 dollars. Today's traps are specially designed in different sizes for different sized animals which trappers and trap manufacturers claim also reduces injuries. It has been claimed by anti-fur campaigners that animals caught in leghold traps will frequently chew of their leg to escape the trap, but fur trappers dispute this, saying that such animals would almost certainly bleed to death before chewing though the bones of the leg.
The use of foothold traps, including those with padded jaws, can result in numerous soft tissue injuries including skin laceration, tendon and ligament damage, and dislocation of joints due to attempts to escape the trap, when a animal is left in a trap for extended periods of time. These traps may also cause simple and compound fractures of toe, foot and leg bones. Limb amputations and frostbite are also possible.
The traps are often criticized for being indiscriminate, and non-target animals are sometimes caught in these traps, occasionally including dogs, cats, and endangered species. Trappers claim that these animals are usually able to be released unharmed and that research has shown that new varied size traps are not indiscriminate. They also claim that regulations regarding the placing and baiting of traps prevents injury or capture to most non-target animals. The foothold trap has been banned in some countries and in seven U.S. states (Washington, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, New Jersey, Florida, and Rhode Island). Humane organizations criticize leghold traps for breaking animals' legs and leaving them in pain often for prolonged periods of time. A 1992 USDA study on coyote trapping indicated that some steel jaw traps leave up to 45% of trapped animals moderately to severely injured. These are the preferred traps used for capture and relocation of endangered and threatened species such as Wolf, Otter and Bobcat.
In states that have banned the use of the foothold trap, a number of issues have arisen. In Massachusetts, the beaver population increased from 24,000 in 1996 to over 70,000 beaver in 2001. Coyote attacks on humans rose from 4 to 10 per year, during the five year period following a 1998 ban on leghold traps in Southern California.
Manufacturers of newer types of traps designed to work only on raccoons claim that these traps are dog-proof. These traps are small, and rely on the raccoon's grasping nature to trigger the trap. They are sold as coon cuffs, bandit busters and egg traps just to name a few.
Cage traps
Cage traps are designed to catch live animals in a cage. They are usually baited, sometimes with food bait and sometimes with a live "lure" animal. Cage traps usually have a trigger located in the back of the cage that causes a door to shut; some traps with two doors have a trigger in the middle of the cage that causes both doors to shut. In either type of cage, the closure of the doors and the falling of a lock mechanism prevents the animal from escaping by locking the door(s) shut. Supporters of cage traps say that they are the most humane form of trapping, and in some countries are the only method of trapping allowed. However studies have shown that animals restrained in cage traps may break claws or teeth, and skin their faces. Cage traps are used by animal control officers to catch unwanted animals and move them to another location without harm, as well as by gamekeepers to catch birds and animals they consider to be pests, and which are killed after catching. Cage traps are also sometimes used for capturing small animals such as squirrels by homeowners in urban areas, such as in attics of homes, for removal to locations where they may either be legally killed and disposed of, or released unharmed. (Some municipal jurisdictions specifically prohibit transporting live squirrels and releasing them into other areas to control the spread of diseases; for these jurisdictions, killing the squirrels within the cage quickly and humanely is the only legal and ethical means of disposing of them.) Cage traps are also useful in catching large dangerous animals for transport and are a favourite of Australian crocodile trappers. Due to their bulk and cost, they are hard to set in great numbers or in remote locations.
Glue traps
Glue traps made using natural or synthetic adhesive applied to cardboard or similar material. Bait can be placed in the center or a scent may be added to the adhesive. Glue board traps are used primarily for rodent control indoors. Glue traps are not effective outdoors due to environmental conditions (moisture, dust) making the adhesive ineffective. Glue traps are not used by animal trappers or fur trappers and are almost exclusively used by homeowners for rodent control. Many animal welfare groups, such as the Humane Society, oppose the use of glue traps for their alleged cruelty, since animals desperate to escape may chew off their own legs, and sizable sections of fur and skin may be ripped out as they struggle. Glue traps are not used for trapping birds, but sticky repellent can be applied to surfaces to temporarily repel perching birds from building ledges and statues. The adhesives registered for this use are classified as tactile repellents.
Unwanted catches
A side-effect of trapping is the catching of non-target animals. Trappers can employ a variety of devices and strategies to limit this problem. Trappers claim that if a non-target animal is caught, such as a dog, bobcat or lynx, it can be released without harm. A careful choice of lures may help draw wanted catch, and discourage the unwanted.
In 2008, a licensed nuisance wildlife control operator in Topeka, Kansas was found guilty of animal cruelty for accidentally trapping and killing a domestic cat in a trap set for skunks. The article did not mention what type of trap was used.
Other exclusion devices exist for snares. The catching of non-target animals can be minimized through the use of devices that exclude animals larger than the target animal. Deer stops are designed to release leg-snared deer and cattle, and are required for snare usage in many states of the USA. Precautions can be taken in the case of small animals as well. One UK report stated that researchers using 1.65 mm smooth wire, instead of the larger 2 mm standard wire, had brown hares caught about as frequently as foxes, with about half of those rabbits being released unharmed. (, section 2.7) The UK report goes on to say that using the standard, larger wire in addition to equipping the snares with rabbit stops eliminated the unwanted catch of brown hares. Guidelines can also advise against setting of killing traps, such as the conibear or "body gripper" where domestic pets or protected animals are likely to be.
Fur trapper
A fur trapper is a person whose occupation involved the trapping of animals for their fur. It was a popular trade particularly in the early days of the settlement of North America between the settlers and the local Indians. Many locations at which trading took place were referred to as trading posts.
Trapping continues to be a profession in many areas around the world, although relatively few people make a full-time living from it. Competition from farm-raised animals and fluctuating populations of wild animals have made trapping a minor industry. Fur prices have trended downward for many years, resulting in a dramatically lessened economic incentive.
Some species have collapsed to such an extent that harvesting them is not allowed in some locations. This is especially true of predator species such as Canadian lynx within the lower 48 United States. Yet certain other fur-bearing species, including beaver and coyote, have shown dramatic population increases in certain regions.
Popular quarry of fur trappers are: beaver, raccoon, wolverine, mink, ermine, American pine marten, bobcat, lynx, and muskrat.
See also
External links
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