Fox cub born to die in a fur farm cage.

Californians can now officially celebrate the end of fur sales in the Golden State. A statewide ban on the sale of new animal fur products went into effect on Jan. 1, 2023, making California the first state in the U.S. to implement such a ban. Its citizens have waited more than three years for the new law to take effect after legislators passed AB 44, sponsored by Assemblymember Laura Friedman. The law, which makes it illegal to manufacture or sell a new animal fur product in California both through brick-and-mortar and online sales, included a phase-in period, giving retailers time to adjust and shift their inventory to fur-free products. It also allows for the continued sale of used animal fur products sold at nonprofit thrift stores, secondhand stores and pawn shops.

California’s ban on the sale of fur products is expected to make a massive dent in the fur industry. Federal fur sales data shows that nearly 25% of all fur product sales in the U.S. occur in California. The new law helps end the suffering of millions of animals either born to die on fur farms or caught in cruel traps in the wild, just so their coats can be used to create luxury goods like hats and loafers.

Each year, more than 100 million animals, such as mink, foxes, raccoon dogs and chinchillas, are raised and killed on fur farms. While most fur sold in the U.S. comes from operations in other countries, primarily China and Europe, fur farms do still exist in some U.S. states. For instance, Wisconsin, Utah, Idaho, Washington and Oregon still allow the farming of animals for their fur. Much of this fur is sent overseas to be made into garments.

Animals kept at these facilities live in some of the cruelest conditions imaginable. These wild animals are typically held captive in small wire cages and are unable to fulfill natural behaviors like swimming, digging and running. They remain largely unprotected by laws in the U.S. and overseas, such as mandatory inspections and humane slaughter laws, and they are often electrocuted, gassed or bludgeoned to death so that their pelts are not damaged. In some instances, animals may not die from these methods and are skinned while still alive.

As unbearable as it is to think of this kind of intense and pointless suffering, we’re witnessing real progress toward relegating this brutality to the history books. Communities are taking it upon themselves to help put an end to the unconscionable cruelty that is inherent to the fur industry. Grassroots advocates in the U.S. and across the globe are stepping up to pass policies that end the sale of fur products. Before the passage of California’s ban on the sale of fur products, four municipalities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley and West Hollywood) passed local ordinances banning these products, paving the way for statewide legislation. Many other communities from coast to coast have followed suit, and global leaders are taking notice.

Internationally, more than 20 countries have passed laws to limit or outright ban fur farming and, in 2021, Israel became the first country to prohibit the sale of fur products. Now, European citizens are gathering signatures in support of a “Fur-Free Europe” European Citizens’ Initiative asking for a ban on fur farming and placing fur-farmed products on the European marketplace. Although the petition has already gathered the necessary 1 million signatures needed by May 2023 for the European Commission to issue a formal response, it remains open to collect additional signatures. I encourage citizens of the European Union to sign it.

Also, at the corporate level, companies continue to drop animal fur from their product lines, with several policies going into effect to align with California’s fur ban. Canada Goose, Kering, Saks Fifth Avenue, Zegna Group, Rudsak, Mytheresa and Moose Knuckles all pledged to go fur-free by the end of 2022, and Neiman Marcus by March 2023. While only a few companies still sell animal fur, one of the last major holdouts is the corporate conglomerate LVMH (parent company for brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Marc Jacobs, Loro Piana and Fendi). That this conglomerate still sells fur has made it the target of persistent global outreach from animal welfare advocates calling on the corporation to ban fur sales once and for all.

We should absolutely celebrate California banning fur sales and other recent wins in our fight against fur, but there is still much work to be done, and you can help. If you are interested on working toward a fur sales bans in your area, check out our ordinance toolkit, which provides an easy guide for taking action in your own community. You can also find plenty of additional information and resources on our Going Fur-Free webpage.

Read this article on the Humane Society of the United States blog

The post In a win for animals, California’s ban on fur officially takes effect appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Dear TrapFree New Mexico Friends,

We wanted to be sure you saw this alert from TrapFree NM partner, Animal Protection Voters. Click on the link below to send a message right now to your legislators, some of whom have just been elected, asking them to support Roxy’s Law* to prohibit traps and poisons from NM public lands.

*Roxy’s Law is named for a senior cattle dog who was killed in a neck snare set on public land in 2018.

Tell Your Legislators to Support Senate Bill 32 “Roxy’s Law”

Did You Know?

• Every year, steel jaw leghold traps, body-crushing traps, and foot and neck snares are hidden throughout New Mexico’s public lands by trappers hoping to kill thousands of wild animals and make money from furs.
• Trapping is the only state-sanctioned activity that allows private individuals to kill unlimited numbers of wildlife—almost 10,000 a year in New Mexico—and sell their body parts for private commercial profit.
• Some state agencies and counties spend federal, state & local tax dollars to contract with federal wildlife agents to kill many thousands of wild animals with M-44 “cyanide bombs” and other poisons on public lands.

New Mexico tourists and residents enjoy the great outdoors on our public lands with their children, friends, and companion animals. The last thing they want to see is their child injured, or their dog or a beautiful wild animal cruelly caught—or killed—in dangerous, archaic traps. And with climate change making the future of New Mexico’s wild habitat and water uncertain, unlimited taking of wildlife to be sold in commercial markets has the potential to devastate our ecosystem in the coming years.

Urge your New Mexico state legislators to support Roxy’s Law
to ban traps, snares, and poisons on public lands »

The post UPDATE: Please Support Senate Bill 32 (Roxy’s Law) – Urge your New Mexico state legislators to support Roxy’s Law appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Contacts:
Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, csmith@wildearthguardians.org

The economics of trapping, the number of species killed by trappers, and environmental harms are among topics covered by report

SANTA FE, NM—Today, WildEarth Guardians and members of the TrapFree New Mexico coalition released a detailed report that makes an in-depth case for banning traps on public lands. Touching on a wide array of topics, the report goes into detail on the economics of trapping versus other uses of public lands, common trap types and the injuries they cause, and the environmental impacts trapping may have on New Mexico. The report relies on data from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, fur auctions, and other scientific sources.

Download the Trapping in New Mexico Report [4.8 MB PDF]

Trapping is touted by some as a rural economic engine in New Mexico. However, data from local and regional fur auctions makes clear that for the vast majority of trappers, the activity likely generates little to no net income. The average New Mexico trapper who attempted to sell every pelt from the 2018-2019 trapping season grossed between $264 and $440. After the cost of traps, baits and lures, licenses, chains, stakes, catchpoles, knives, and fuel, net income is likely substantially lower, and possibly a loss.

It is not clear, in fact, that trapping is an activity undertaken more by rural New Mexicans compared to urban residents. Trapping license purchases are concentrated among buyers in urban areas, according to data provided by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

“Our hope is that this information lays bare some of the misleading arguments that trappers and their allies use to perpetuate this cruel hobby,” said Chris Smith, southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “There is a common refrain from trappers that their tools are humane, that they are doing ‘wildlife management,’ and that trapping is lucrative. After examination, those claims don’t really carry water.”

A section titled “Interfering with Nature” highlights some of the impacts that widescale killing of native wildlife can have on desert ecosystems. Another section of the report shares just a few stories from the many New Mexicans who have seen their dogs injured and killed in traps on public lands.

“Whether archaic traps ensnare, maim and kill domestic dogs or wild coyotes, the ultimate result is the same: injustice and unjustified cruelty,” said Michelle L. Lute, national carnivore conservation manager for Project Coyote, and who holds a PhD in wildlife management. “Trapping is not legitimate management. It’s a sad form of recreation that robs ecosystems of native wildlife and families of their companion animals and needs to be outlawed as are other forms of animal cruelty.”

“Roxy’s Law,” named after a dog who died in a neck snare on public lands, would ban recreational and commercial trapping on public lands across New Mexico. The bill passed through two state House committees in 2019 and is set to be introduced again in the 2021 legislative session.

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The post New report details the many problems of traps on public lands appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Many people are surprised to learn that fur trapping—the exploitative relic of the 1800s—still goes on today in our crowded, fragile world. Worse, the steel-jawed devices and wire neck-snares that trappers still use can be hidden on our public lands, including national forests, Bureau of Land Management and state trust lands, where they may harm hikers, wildlife watchers and others. Trappers seek to profit from the capture and killing of the public’s wildlife—animals like bobcats, foxes, coyotes and badgers—by selling their pelts into the international market. But, every year in New Mexico, traps also slam shut on unintended victims: dogs walking with their people, birds like ravens and even endangered species like the Mexican wolf.

So far in only the four weeks that the trapping season has been open in New Mexico this year, three dogs have been ensnared. And those are only the incidents we at TrapFree New Mexico know about. There is no database or official place to report these traumas, so the actual figure is likely much higher.

Sometimes the owners can act quickly and are able to extricate their dog with a minimum of injury, which almost always involves the dog’s screaming in pain, swelling where the trap landed and biting of the rescuers. On Thanksgiving Day, when a hiker’s highly trained search-and-rescue dog was trapped near Jemez Springs, people got her out with difficulty, but after only a short time. Thankfully, the incident occurred on a walk for pleasure, not a search mission.

The weekend before that, hikers stumbled upon a dog that did not belong to them, languishing in a steel leg-trap in northern Santa Fe County. The only way they could tell the dog was still alive was that she blinked when they approached. They were unable to remove the trap and, after giving the animal water and turkey jerky, had to leave it alone overnight before they could get help. Imagine the torment of having to walk away from an animal in agony.

At first light the next morning, a NMDog rescue party made the two-hour hike back to the dog, expecting the worst. Miraculously Mahlia was still alive. She’s going to be okay after several thousand dollars in veterinary expenses that included surgery to amputate the destroyed part of her foot. The trapper is not required to pay these expenses.

In the case of wire neck-snares, the outcome can be much more tragic. In 2018, a hiker held his ensnared dog, Roxy, while she suffocated to death in his arms. He was unable to figure out how to work the release mechanism of the wire crushing her windpipe in time to save her.

That year, a bill was introduced at the state legislature that prohibited the setting of traps and poisons on New Mexico public lands. The bill was fittingly named “Roxy’s law.” It passed both of its House of Representative committees, but did not make it to the floor before the session expired. Similar legislation had been introduced three times previously, but had never progressed even that far.

Surely the time has come to end the awful carnage traps inflict, not just on companion animals, but also on our native wildlife. Despite repeatedly asking the New Mexico State Game Commission to better regulate traps, this past year the commission adopted only an incremental change that increased the distance where a trap can be set near an official trailhead or campground to one half-mile. Traps can still be placed a mere 25 yards from an official trail or road. User-created roads or wildlife trails don’t meet the definition for even that modest restriction.

There are still no bag limits on any “furbearing” species. Trappers can kill an unlimited number of bobcats or foxes or coyotes. This is why a hiker in Doña Ana County was horrified to come across dozens of skinned and dumped coyote carcasses the Friday before Thanksgiving. It looked like a scene from a horror movie. Trapping dismisses the importance these animals have in nature in maintaining the balance of the food web. The attitude that they are expendable is ignorant and arrogant.

Our neighboring state of Arizona passed a measure banning traps and poisons on public lands more than 25 years ago. Colorado to our north adopted a complete statewide ban on these devices a couple of years later. Statewide bans also exist in California and Washington state and a few states in the East. New Mexico depends on tourism revenue, and we are at a distinct disadvantage when we place visitors wishing to explore the Land of Enchantment in harm’s way. Especially now during the pandemic, when being outdoors is one of the safest forms of recreation still available to us, the continuing assault caused by hidden traps is unforgivable.

The legislature meets again in January. Will this be the year our public lands become trap free? You can help to make that happen. Please visit trapfreenm.org to learn more, sign our  petition and contact your state senator and representative. (You can find their names and contact information at www.nmlegis.gov.) Ask them to support Roxy’s law. A hike on our public lands should not end in trauma or tragedy. The animal species that “bear fur” have value to nature far and above their pelt price.

Read the Guest Column in the Sierra County Sun »

The post Sierra County Sun: New Mexico: Land of Entrapment appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

She turned around to find her dog, Jessie, a 2-year-old Dutch shepherd, with one of her paws caught in a metal trap near the trail where they were walking.

“My little Jessie girl was crying and screaming,” Miller told the Journal on Friday. “My other dog was upset trying to console her and lay down next to her.”

Miller knew how to disarm traps – she and her dogs often volunteer on search-and-rescue teams in northern New Mexico – but she said it was still difficult to do in such a high-intensity situation.

After a few minutes of what she described as “initial panic,” Miller freed Jessie’s leg from the trap with only minimal injuries to the dog.

Her story is not unique. In fact, Jessie is one of at least three dogs caught by metal traps across the state during the first 26 days of the trapping season. The incidents have reignited debate about the ethical nature of trapping animals, often for fur to be sold on the open market.

Jessica Johnson of Animal Protection Voters New Mexico said it’s unclear whether there’s been an increase in the number of dogs caught in traps, because owners are becoming more likely to report such incidents.

Trap Free New Mexico, an organization that advocates for restrictions and bans on trapping in certain areas, has a map on its website of dogs caught by traps in recent years. It also maps out Mexican gray wolves caught by traps in southwestern New Mexico, most of which were released back into the wild.

Another recent incident took place in northern Santa Fe County. A black Lab named Mahlia stepped on a trap, severing many of her toes and trapping her in the same spot for several days until rescuers found her.

Kevin Bixby, executive director for Southwest Environmental Center, said that trappers are supposed to check all traps every 24 hours after setting them but that many leave them alone for days at a time.

“Sometimes trappers don’t check their traps and an animal will just die a slow, painful death,” Bixby said. “These animals become prey for other animals.”

Trapping is an industry that brought many to the West during the early years of the United States, where pelts of animals like beavers were valuable commodities. And while demand has decreased, many still set traps across the state for furs of coyotes, bobcats and many other animals.

And unlike in many other states, trapping in New Mexico is legal on private and public lands.

The state Department of Game and Fish found that more than 3,700 protected fur-bearing animals were killed by traps in one year, according to the 2019-2020 harvest report, mostly bobcats and gray foxes.

Those numbers, though, don’t include the numbers of coyotes or skunks killed during the same year, because they’re not considered protected. Johnson said those numbers could be well above 5,000.

And many times, the carcasses of trapped animals are left behind once trappers take their pelts. Earlier this month, a hiker in Doña Ana County found more than a dozen skinned coyote carcasses piled up together, many with obvious trapping wounds on their legs.

Activists are proposing legislation to ban trapping on public lands, to prevent further incidents of dogs being caught in traps. Johnson said it’s especially concerning that there’s no limit on how many animals someone can trap, different from many popular forms of hunting.

“A lot of traps are being set out there in unlimited numbers,” she said.

“Roxy’s Law,” which failed to pass in the 2019 legislative session, was named for a dog strangled by a snare in November 2018. The bill to ban trapping on public lands in New Mexico contained exceptions for game agencies to prevent livestock depredations, as well as tribal and pueblo ceremonial purposes.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Commission adopted trapping rule changes in January. The changes include mandatory trapper education, along with restrictions for traps near trailheads and in certain national forest areas near Taos and Santa Fe.

But Chris Smith, Southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians, said the changes did little but “stave off” what activists see as necessary legislation.

“This statewide problem affects wildlife, recreation, our tourism economy and our reputation as a state,” Smith said. “Right now people are relying on public lands more than ever. We certainly intend to bring this legislation back to make our public lands safer.”

The Journal reached out to the New Mexico Trappers Association multiple times but received no response before publication.

As for Jessie, Miller said that her dog is recovering and that she’s thankful she knew how to disarm traps, and she encourages other dog owners to learn how.

“We got really lucky,” she said, “but you don’t want anyone to go through that.”

Read the article in the Albuquerque Journal

The post Albuquerque Journal: Dogs caught in traps rekindle debate in NM appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Kevin Bixby, executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center in Las Cruces, went to the site to check out the scene on Sunday.

“It was pretty gruesome,” Bixby said. “They were probably trapped in the area out in the desert.”

More than 30 coyotes had been dumped in four piles in the desert, their bodies all skinned and at varying levels of decomposition. Several had typical leg-hold trap wounds on their paws, indicating that this was the work of trappers who had dumped the bodies after removing the coyote’s fur.

“I can trap coyotes all year round,” Bixby said. “But this time of year when it gets a little colder, the pelts are worth more money.”

According to state law, there isn’t a limit on trapping coyotes and New Mexico residents don’t need a hunting license to trap coyotes.

However, these piles of coyotes were found on private land according to Bixby. The private land owner could pursue trespassing charges.

Bixby said he doubted they were killed in a contest because that would likely mean the animals would be shot, which often spoils the furs. They also didn’t have wires around their jaws, which are typical of animals that have been killed in killing contests. Coyote-killing contests are banned in the state.

Bixby warned of the dangers that trapping poses.

“Every year, people out walking with their dogs, their dogs get caught,” Bixby said. “The act of trapping itself is horrible. It’s indiscriminate. They’re like landmines in the desert. They’re just waiting to catch anything that steps on them.”

Jessica Johnson, chief legislative officer for Animal Protection Voters, said this method of trapping, skinning and dumping seems quite common in the community.

“Having engaged in conversations with trappers … several of them have told me that what they do is they dump the bodies into ditches or hidden areas out on the land,” Johnson said. “They say that you should only dump maybe two or three at a time in one space to not create a big smell or visual appearance that would make it noticeable to someone.”

She said the most responsible way to dispose of these carcasses would be through a landfill or incineration, both of which cost money. Johnson explained that most trappers trap to make money, so these options take away from that profit.

When Bixby arrived at the scene, he ran into some men leaving the area who claimed they were hired to distribute the bodies. He suspected these men were not law enforcement or wildlife officials as one man was drinking a beer. He said it was  suspicious.

Bixby said he believes these men could potentially be connected to the dumping crime as the story was reported by KFOX14 two days prior, and they could have been tampering with the scene.

Read the article in the Las Cruces Sun-News

The post Las Cruces Sun-News: ‘Pretty gruesome:’ Skinned coyote carcasses piled in desert likely the work of trappers appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

NASHVILLE — Last week, Walden’s Puddle, a nonprofit wildlife rescue organization in a rural area of Nashville, posted a set of photos of a barred owl caught in the jaws of a leg-hold trap. The first photo, which featured the owl on the ground, its wings spread wide and its eyes cast down, was emblazoned with the words “Graphic images ahead.” I didn’t click through to see the rest of the pictures. The sight of that magnificent creature of the air tethered to the ground was graphic enough to break my heart. I didn’t need to see what the rest of the images would inevitably reveal: sinews torn, bones splintered, flesh bloody and swollen, great yellow claws mangled beyond repair.

Walden’s Puddle rehabilitates and releases orphaned and injured animals, and its Instagram account is normally a feel-good feed of squirrels, songbirds, turtles, deer, raccoons, opossums, snakes, rabbits, foxes, skunks, groundhogs, bobcats — pretty much everything that flies or crawls or walks or swims — and all of them on the mend. The caption to the post about the barred owl, which had to be euthanized, was uncharacteristically fierce:

Read the full article in the New York Times »

The post How Not to Kill an Animal appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Claire Bass, Executive Director of Humane Society International/UK, says, “California has made history by becoming the first U.S state to ban the sale of animal fur, signifying the growing distaste for fur products by consumers who want to see compassion in fashion. It is deeply immoral for animals to suffer miserable lives and painful deaths just to end up as a bobble hat or coat trim, and this ban sends a powerful message to the fur trade that its business model is unethical and its days are numbered. Now is the time for the UK to join the trailblazing to shut down markets for this cruel and outdated industry. We banned fur farming here two decades ago for being inhumane, but now we allow tens of millions of pounds of fur to be imported; by effectively outsourcing cruelty we’ve only done half the job. Our #FurFreeBritain campaign is calling on the British government to follow in California’s footsteps, and make the UK the first country in the world to ban the sale of animal fur.”

California’s bill was introduced by Assemblymember Laura Friedman last December and sponsored by HSI/UK’s sister organisation the Humane Society of the United States, and Animal Hope and Wellness. It passed six committees and the full Assembly and Senate with overwhelming support. It had many notable supporters among the fashion industry, including InStyle magazine, Stella McCartney, Diane von Furstenberg, 3.1 Phillip Lim, HUGO BOSS, Patagonia, H&M, GAP, J.Crew, Madewell, Des Kohan, Hiraeth and Inditex/Zara.

Read this article on the Humane Society International website

The post California bans the sale of fur appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

California just became the first state in the country to ban fur trapping, solidifying its position as a trailblazer on wildlife issues. The Wildlife Protection Act of 2019, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law yesterday, bans commercial and recreational trapping animals for their fur on both public and private lands.

The move, which follows a 2015 ban on bobcat trapping, was celebrated by wildlife conservation and animal welfare groups that have been pushing legislators to update the state’s wildlife laws. As Brendan Cummings, conservation director with the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), put it in a statement, the change “marks a milestone in the process of bringing California’s wildlife laws into the twenty-first century.”

“This momentous law, which was spearheaded by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, will spare countless foxes, coyotes, beavers, and other wild animals from the unnecessary fur trade,” adds Camilla Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, an Earth Island project that promotes coexistence with wildlife. “For centuries, fur trapping has caused agonizing deaths for an untold number of animals.”

Read the article in the Earth Island Journal

The post California Just Became the First State to Ban Fur Trapping appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

“I just think the tide has turned. There are too many people out there on those public lands, and it’s like we’re walking through a mine field,” said a New Mexico man whose dog died in a trap.

An illegally-set steel cable trap likely intended for bobcats caught David Clark’s dog Roxy around the neck while they were on a walk on public land near Santa Cruz Lake in New Mexico. Clark said he couldn’t figure out how to release Roxy and had to watch his best friend suffocate in his arms.

“I understand where the trappers and ranchers are coming from, but I just think the tide has turned,” Clark, a retired ecologist, said from his home in Espanola, New Mexico. “There are too many people out there on those public lands, and it’s like we’re walking through a mine field.”

Read the article on NBCNews.com »

The post Farmers and trappers say limiting animal trapping threatens a way of life appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.