Sarah J. Blige

On a recent trip to my local animal shelter (I was looking into becoming a foster parent) I picked up a newsletter belonging to the Fur-Bearer Defenders. I’ve always opposed trapping and have thought the sale of real fur products should be illegal, but I was appalled to learn more about the actual practices and real legalities of the fur trade.

Let Trapping Die

Animals trapped for the fur trade are generally caught in one of three types of traps: the leg-hold trap, the conibear trap and the snare trap. These contraptions are slightly different in design, but all serve as a cruel and inhumane means to an unjust end for millions of animals every year.

Supporters of the fur trade would have you believe there are modified leg-hold traps that are more humane than the traditional steel traps, though the modifications are ineffective in their (supposed) aim and just as cruel as traditional traps. The so-called “padded trap” has a small piece of material attached to the steel jaws of the leg-hold trap that does not afford any greater comfort to the trapped and panicking animal as it dies. The “offset trap” has a 3/16″ gap between the closed jaws of the steel leg-hold trap. The “laminated trap” has extra steel added to its jaws to make it slightly wider than the traditional leg-hold trap. None of these traps are any more humane than their traditional cousins; modified traps are simply propaganda tools to maintain a sad facade.

The conibear trap was initially touted as an instant-kill trap, though they’ve disproved themselves, as even trappers often refer to these traps as “body-grippers”. There are simply too many variables, such as speed, angle of entry and size of animal, that need to fall into place perfectly for the conibear trap to work as intended. The truth is that these traps normally clamp down on the unsuspecting victim (often in incredibly uncomfortable places, such as the neck, belly or shoulder) causing a drawn-out, agonizing death.

The snare may be the most inhumane trap, though this is very difficult to quantify, as all traps are basically torture devices. It consists of a wire loop that tightens around the trapped animal as it struggles, slowly strangling the animal to its last breath.

Though there couldn’t possibly be any humane or right way to kill an animal simply for the coat on their back, perhaps some of the suffering could be eased by allowing these furry victims a quick and relatively painless death. But this is not the case: almost all trapped animals die very slow, desperate, painful deaths. In Canada, traps are usually checked between one and five days, which means an unlucky animal caught in a trap is often kept in a state of excruciating pain and desperate panic until the trapper arrives to end its life…if it’s lucky…

In a frenzied attempt to escape, trapped animals often mutilate themselves, break teeth and bones, dislocate joints, and even chew off their own limbs. If an animal has successfully freed themselves from the jaws of the trap by chewing off the clamped limb, they will almost certainly die in the wild sometime thereafter, either by infection, by starvation as a result of their inability to hunt, or by becoming easy prey.

A Waste of Life – Accidental Catches

Our own furry family members (as in Rex or Snowflake, not Uncle Jack) are frequently caught in traps left for larger game. In Canada, they are considered unwanted catches and are thrown away if found dead by the trapper, or released badly injured, if they’ve managed to survive. Accidental catches often include porcupines, squirrels, rabbits, owls, ducks and other small animals. Sometimes even endangered species find themselves in the cold jaws of these traps.

Canada Bullies EU Into Continuing to Import Fur

The European Union (EU) passed a resolution through parliament to ban the use of leg-hold traps in its member countries, as well as the import of furs from countries still using leg-hold traps. Canada’s response: “Oh no you di-n’t!” As the fur trade continues to be one of Canada’s leading sources of income, officials would not stand by and let legislation pass that would see an enormous decline in its fur exports. Canada resultantly threatened the EU with severe economic penalties and battles under the terms of The World Trade Organization and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Canada manipulated the EU into an International Agreement, which they proclaimed would ensure better welfare for trapped animals and the eventual ban of leg-hold trapping, and convinced the EU to exempt them from the fur ban.

In reality, the new standards set within the International Agreement are basically bureaucratic bullshit that do nothing to improve the welfare of trapped animals. The agreement stated that “padded” and “offset” leg-hold traps (as explained above) would still be used, and further outlined that traditional steel leg-hold traps would continue to be used in or near the water.

The United States, another big player in the fur trade game, was also able to deceive the EU into excluding them from the fur ban in many of the same ways that Canada did within the International Agreement; however, an even bigger problem exists within fur trapping laws in the USA: authority over trapping lies completely within each individual state in the US, which means each state gets to decide whether or not they will comply with the terms of the agreement.

A Call for Stricter Laws

Imagine for me, if you will, that you are taking a leisurely walk through your neighborhood when you stumble into a steel trap with a lovely, if measly, piece of fabric lining its jaws. Your ankle is broken instantly by the force of the jaws clamping down on it, and you notice blood start to form a pool around your foot. You writhe and cry and scream in pain, try to free yourself, but simply cannot pull the jaws away from your leg. You lie in agony for five days, starving, freezing and starting to become delirious with exhaustion, until finally a figure starts to appear in the distance. As the figure approaches, you notice they are carrying an axe. “Oh thank GOD,” you think to yourself, “this guy must be coming to save me…he’ll use that axe to remove this awful device from my leg and take me somewhere nice where I can be treated for my injuries.” The man with the axe gets closer and closer, and as you begin to relay your horrific tale to him, he stares at you blankly while he swings the axe up over his head and then forcefully down into your neck, where you bleed out and die, and are soon after scalped. You’ve just been brutally trapped and killed for your lovely head of hair: some rich socialite would like a new brunette wig.

The truth is that we don’t NEED fur for anything. It is merely a unnecessary luxury with a brutal background. Trapping of any kind for fur should be made completely illegal, as should be both the import and export of fur internationally. This is a sick and inhumane practice that kills millions of innocent lives annually for the sole purpose of financial gain, and needs to be stopped, once and for all.  Visit www.banlegholdtraps.com for more information and to find out how you can help.