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Tell Vermont: Stop Cruel And Inhumane Animal Trapping
Final signature count: 40,494
40,494 signatures toward our 50,000 goal
Sponsor: The Rainforest Site
Help end the use of underwater traps in Vermont and stop the cruel killing!
The product of fur trapping is easy to see, and has long been vilified as one of the more barbaric corners of fashion. It’s easy to find objection with animals being killed and skinned for the profit of design houses. But the inhumanity isn’t relegated to a hunter’s bullet. Where “foothold” or traditional “leg-hold” traps are used, animals can suffer, starve, and even drown over the course of days, all while unable to move [1].
These traps have been traditionally used by fur trappers, as the mechanism does not harm the majority of the animal’s fur. In Vermont, in particular, the usage of these traps is largely unregulated. Animals are commonly found after days of languishing, and often suffering greatly, if not dead [2].
Otters, some of the most intelligent animals in the northeastern U.S., are being drowned and starved to death through the use of these inhumane traps. Even while more and more communities are standing up against their usage — leg-hold and foothold traps are banned in at least 100 countries around the world [3] — the state of Vermont refuses to take notice.
Vermont doesn’t have a great record when it comes to enforcing humane hunting practices. In fact, the state Fish and Wildlife Department granted a request to extend the otter hunting season in 2017 [4], granting full permission to use foothold and leg-hold traps. Louis Porter, commissioner of the Fish and Wildlife Department, said an average of 160 otters are killed every year, and as many as 10 more will be trapped during the month-long extension [5].
The extension was prompted by calls of otter overpopulation, but even in neighboring states like Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, where otters are also plentiful, there are regulations in place regarding prohibiting inhumane trapping methods.
It’s within the jurisdiction of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commission to set higher standards for hunting, and that includes animals being trapped for their fur. At least 75 percent of Vermont residents oppose leg-hold and body gripping traps [7], and that number is steadily growing with the support of others around the world.
