NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE
10/31/07
Fur trapping season is underway in New York and wildlife is being
subjected to treatment so inhumane that if the same thing were to be
done intentionally to domestic cats or dogs, the trapper would be
facing felony animal cruelty charges, Joe Miele of New Paltz, vice
president of Wild Watch Inc. says.
Trapping in New York is a largely unregulated activity. During
trapping season there is no limit to the number of beavers, bobcats,
coyotes, fishers, gray foxes, minks, muskrats, opossums, otters,
raccoons, red foxes, skunks, and weasels that a trapper can kill.
In many areas of the state, a trapper may leave an animal trapped
and unattended for up to 48 hours, during which time the animal has
no shelter from the elements and no way to protect themselves
against attacking predators. The DEC caters to the tiny number of
licensed trappers (trappers number less than one-tenth of
one-percent of the state’s population) despite the dangers inherent
in recreational trapping because the DEC is funded in part through
the sale of trapping licenses and the excise taxes affixed to the
cost of traps and trapping-related equipment, Miele says.
“Since those who participate in wildlife watching activities
outnumber trappers by more than 282 to one, the DEC should enhance
wildlife watching programs which support local economies far more
than its violent and harmful trapping programs that do little more
than bring suffering upon the state’s native wildlife”. Miele says.
“We urge the DEC and the Bureau of Wildlife to abandon their
stone-age recreational trapping seasons and in their place nurture
the potential in wildlife watching programs which can build a shift
in the paradigm toward the protection, respect and admiration of
wildlife and their habitat”.
To learn what you can do to help, please contact Wildlife Watch
at www.wildwatch.org.
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