Ninety percent of New Mexico residents believe trapping should be banned on public lands, according to a report released Wednesday by a panel of seven New Mexico citizens.
The report was created through online surveys organized by the People’s Forum on Public Lands Trapping in New Mexico.
The public’s opinion was interpreted with a 30-day survey that accepted electronic and written comments. More than 2,400 people responded to the survey and 1,600 were from New Mexico, according to the report.
“The Panel recommends that trapping be banned from public land as soon as possible. Trapping harms other lands users and their companion animals, turns the public’s wildlife into a personal commodity, and jeopardizes animal populations, including endangered species,” Peggy Nelson, the panel’s chairwoman and a retired district court judge, said in a statement. “It is just plain dangerous, cruel and non-discriminating.”
Read the article in the Albuquerque Journal