Ban Fur Trapping On Public Lands in the United States

TO: The Members of Congress of the United States

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior

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This petition represents an appeal by concerned taxpayers, citizens, tourists and visitors to the United States, to ban trapping on public lands in the United States and to outlaw the participation of young children in the killing of fur bearing animals. We believe that not only are the lives of children physically endangered by exposure to traps and wild animals, but they are placed in emotional and psychological jeopardy when taught to kill and treat living, sentient beings as unfeeling, inanimate objects. Trapping has been banned in over 85 countries in the world. But in the United States despite the fact that most Americans oppose its use, it is still largely protected by law with the exception of 8 states that have prohibited or greatly reduced its use. Watch the Youtube Video

Each year millions of animals are trapped in the United States for fur and also for penning, a vicious entertainment much appreciated among hunters. Traps are non-selective in what they catch, are a danger to companion animals and children, and yet countless trapping licenses are issued each year to individuals, including parents who expose their young children to the barbaric destruction of animals’ lives. Trapped animals are killed by shooting, stomping on their necks or smashing their skulls with a stick. But for many trapped animals, their ordeal has just begun as they are dumped into cages with open wounds and transported for many hours, just to be penned and finished off by dogs trained to tear fur bearing animals to pieces while still alive.

Animals, when painfully gripped and restrained alive, struggle frantically to free themselves, often dislocating joints, breaking their teeth, mutilating themselves by chewing off a leg or paw, in an attempt to break free. If they succeed, the traumatized animals have little hope for survival in the wild; death will surely come from infection, starvation or by being an easy prey to predators. Laws pertaining to checking traps vary from place to place and most require that trappers check their traps within 72 hours, but it is not enforceable. Thus, many animals while enduring excruciating pain and a desperate panic-filled wait, simply die of hunger and lack of water.

We ask that you ban these practices completely on all public lands in the United States and mandate prosecution with heavy fines for anyone found guilty of breaking the law.