Longtime practices steeped in history are often difficult to change.  These practices are ardently defended by their proponents who justify their practices as their very way of life, their heritage, their identity, even their right, with no regard for science, nor for how their practices may affect others.

Trapping is one example.  Operating largely under the radar, trappers are indiscriminately and inhumanely harvesting thousands of animals, targeted and non-targeted, while simultaneously limiting the freedoms of the general public to safely recreate on their public lands.  Trapping regulations are woefully lax and have remained largely unchanged since their implementation.

Even our government agencies still use trapping to control certain animal populations, despite the existence of more humane alternatives.

U.S. Representative Earl Blumenhauer’s (OR-03) proposed legislation, the Limiting Inhumane Federal Trapping (LIFT) for Public Safety Act, is a bold effort to bring much needed and long-awaited change to the inhumane and poorly regulated practice of trapping.  Not only will Blumenauer’s bill shed light on the issue by bringing it to the forefront of the public’s awareness, it introduces a voice of reason to the discussion.

Blumenauer’s proposed legislation addresses the government’s use of body-gripping traps in the scope of wildlife management and will prohibit use of these traps on our federal lands, lands often designated for the protection of our nation’s wildlife resources and for the enjoyment of future generations.

The scope of this legislation cannot be understated.  To be effective, however, it must pass.  Please do your part in supporting this legislation by contacting your representatives through the Center for Biological Diversity’s Action Alert.

By Valerie Conger, Jackson, WYOMING

Photo image:  Thomas D Mangelsen, www.mangelsen.com.