admin, Author at TrapFree New Mexico

Breaking News: Cougar Trapping Season Has Started

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 21:13:37 +0000

While APNM’s state and federal lawsuits are still ongoing, the legal process can take months or years—and the cougar trapping carnage has now begun.

Starting November 1 of this year—for the first time in nearly five decades—millions of acres of New Mexico’s private and state trust lands are now open to cougar trapping until March 31, 2017.

This means everyone is at greater risk of stepping into cougar traps and snares, including nursing mother cougars and their kittens who are supposed to be protected under state regulations, as well as federally protected endangered species like Mexican wolves.

What kind of barbaric devices will now litter our state in large numbers? The traps contain a spring-loaded trigger that closes two steel jaws, which can spread up to approximately seven inches wide, around the leg of an animal that steps between the jaws. Snares use a coiled spring with a looped metal cable that cinches tightly around an animal’s foot. Captured animals often further injure themselves while thrashing or even chewing off their own trapped limb while trying to escape. Traps often go unchecked for long enough that the animal starves, dies of thirst or exposure, or is killed by another animal before being found.

Traps and snares are cruel and completely indiscriminate. Why does that matter?

That matters when a healthy cougar population depends on mothers being able to raise their young into adulthood (orphaned cubs younger than six months have a 96% rate of death by starvation).
That matters when the survival of an entire species can be jeopardized by even just one animal dying from a trap injury. For example, there are only about 97 Mexican wolves left in the world, and many of them live in New Mexico.
That matters as New Mexico families and their dogs hike all over our beautiful lands, and can easily step into a trap, resulting in anguish, thousands of dollars in medical and/or veterinary bills, and sometimes maiming and even death of companion animals.

What Can You Do?

Support APNM’s legal efforts to stop this disastrous cougar trapping season: www.apnm.org/donate

The post Breaking News: Cougar Trapping Season Has Started appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Tragedy for a Dog and Her Family Proves Traps Have No Place in Our State

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 19:51:06 +0000

Article in Making Tracks, Winter 2016 Issue

In August 2016, APNM’s Cruelty Case Manager was alerted to an extreme animal cruelty case in which two missing dogs in Taos were found severely injured, caught in cruel leg-hold traps on a neighbor’s property. Both were found still alive after surviving overnight through freezing rain. The dogs, Speckles and Rosie (aka Chi Chi), had also been bludgeoned in their heads. Unfortunately, Rosie did not survive (a necropsy by the State Veterinarian confirmed that the dog died due to injuries to her head).

Speckles sustained a gash to her head and injuries inflicted by the trap. Trying to free herself, she also badly damaged her front teeth. Speckles was deeply traumatized by this terrifying and painful experience.

The Taos County Sheriff’s Office, the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish have investigated and will not be bringing charges due to insufficient evidence.

Steel leg-hold traps are extremely cruel devices. Their steel jaws snap shut on whatever part of the body is in proximity to the trap. They are strong enough to break bones and to cut off circulation, often causing permanent damage.

The infuriating outcome of this tragic story underscores why New Mexicans need to ban traps here. Traps set “legally,” with identification, are horrible enough, harming and killing animals without any discrimination for who gets caught and killed. But illegally set traps like the ones that caught Rosie and Speckles, which had no identification and weren’t claimed by anyone, give law-breakers the opportunity to get away with heinous crimes without any repercussions. This is unacceptable. To help ban steel traps and poisons on public lands in New Mexico, sign our petition at http://tinyurl.com/hd62f99

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Albuquerque Journal Editorial: Another 4-legged reason NM should ban traps

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2016 03:41:57 +0000

Just 80 feet from the road to Sandia Crest. In view of a picnic table and a popular hiking trail. And in the path of a family pet named Cub. This past weekend, Cub stepped into a metal leg-hold trap.

Read the article in the Albuquerque Journal

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Born Free USA Trapping Investigation: Victims of Vanity II

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 22:39:39 +0000

Five Years Later, Cruel Indifference Continues

Over the course of the 2015-2016 trapping season, Born Free USA conducted a follow-up investigation to Victims of Vanity: our landmark investigation in 2011 that exposed the dark, brutal world of trapping.

Since the release of Victims of Vanity, trapping apologists have continued to argue that trapping is humane, necessary, and a “tradition” worth preserving. They have also accused anti-trap organizations of only broadcasting the very worst and extremely rare trapping incidents: accidents that are in no way representative of what they claim is a well-regulated, selective activity.

However, this undercover footage obtained by Born Free USA once again reveals the truth of trapping. Common trapping practices remain as ruthless, dangerous, and archaic as we revealed five years ago.

Born Free USA Trapping Investigation: Victims of Vanity II

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Predator Control Should Not be a Shot in the Dark

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 22:01:12 +0000

Livestock owners traditionally use various non-lethal and lethal methods to protect their domestic animals from wild predators. However, many of these methods are implemented without first considering experimental evidence of their effectiveness in mitigating predation-related threats or avoiding ecological degradation. To inform future policy and research on predators, we systematically evaluated evidence for interventions against carnivore (canid, felid, and ursid) predation on livestock in North American and European farms. We also reviewed a selection of tests from other continents to help assess the global generality of our findings. Twelve published tests – representing five non-lethal methods and 7 lethal methods – met the accepted standard of scientific inference (random assignment or quasi-experimental case-control) without bias in sampling, treatment, measurement, or reporting. Of those twelve, prevention of livestock predation was demonstrated in six tests (four non-lethal and two lethal), whereas counterintuitive increases in predation were shown in two tests (zero non-lethal and two lethal); the remaining four (one non-lethal and three lethal) showed no effect on predation. Only two non-lethal methods (one associated with livestockguarding dogs and the other with a visual deterrent termed “fladry”) assigned treatments randomly, provided reliable inference, and demonstrated preventive effects. We recommend that policy makers suspend predator control efforts that lack evidence for functional effectiveness and that scientists focus on stringent standards of evidence in tests of predator control.

Read the peer-reviwed research paper

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Research Review Finds that Weak Science has Bolstered the U.S. Government’s Predator-Control Practices

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:51:59 +0000

From their review of the prevailing research into lethal and non-lethal predator control practices in North America and Europe, an international trio of environmental scientists has determined that the science behind the reviewed research is not very scientific. In fact, the authors of the review- titled “Predator Control Should Not be a Shot in the Dark”- call for a moratorium on lethal predator control policies until researchers adopt higher testing standards. The new findings are being hailed by wildlife conservation groups like Project Coyote, which have questioned traditional predator management policies and practices as carried out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program.

Read the blog post from Project Coyote

The post Research Review Finds that Weak Science has Bolstered the U.S. Government’s Predator-Control Practices appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

The Case for Mass Slaughter of Predators Just Got Weaker

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2016 21:47:51 +0000

A new study finds little evidence that lethal predator control does anything to help ranchers.

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment found that there’s little scientific evidence that killing predators actually accomplishes the goal of protecting livestock.

The study reviewed previous research attempting to measure the effectiveness of various predator-control methods in North America and Europe. Some studies looked at whether killing predators meant fewer livestock deaths, while others examined the success of nonlethal deterrents, such as the use of guard dogs and flag-lined ropes or wires.

The study found that most of the research doesn’t hold up scientifically. Only two of the studies were deemed top notch because they took into consideration the possible effects of things like disease, weather and other elements that could influence livestock deaths. But neither study focused on the effectiveness of killing predators. Instead the papers concluded that certain nonlethal predator-control methods helped ward off future attacks on livestock.

“People deserve to hear the options and understand the evidence, especially if our government claims to be science-based in our policies.

The new study shows there’s not enough science to support the killing of these animals. “Any government action that destroys wildlife should be scrutinized to a higher level.”

A move away from killing predators would require a culture shift among ranchers, who often jump to lethal predator control because it offers a quick and easy fix with short-term results. “People are instant gratification creatures,” he explains. “A lot of ranchers are very comfortable with that model.”

Read the article from National Geographic.

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Animal News Hour with Kathleen McDonald

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 02:56:04 +0000

Animal News Hour with Kathleen McDonald

Kathleen McDonald tells her story about when her dog was trapped and she was injured in the Lincoln National Forest. It is impossible to think of the places we love in the same way when a hidden trap could be anywhere.

Animal News Hour with Kathleen McDonald

https://trapfreenm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Animal-News-Hour-with-Kathleen-McDonald-20150114.mp3

Recent News

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David Forjan Recounts Bloody Trap Incident

admin — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 01:07:01 +0000

David Forjan Recounts Bloody Trap Incident

David Forjan, the host of Animal News Hour, recounts his own heart-pounding story of having to rescue his dog Annie from a trap and how he was also horribly injured—a story that is all too common in New Mexico.

Animal News Hour with David Forjan

https://trapfreenm.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Animal-News-Hour-with-David-Forjan-20150130.mp3

Recent News

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