The 60-day legislative session has now come to a close and we know you want to know what happened to HB 366, Roxy’s Law, to ban traps and poisons from NM public lands. We regret that it did not pass, and that news is as disappointing for us to relay as we know it is to hear. HB 366 wasn’t the only good wildlife protection bill that did not pass. Changing the status quo is very difficult. But please read on!

This bill had never gotten out of committee before. This time, it passed not only one, but two committees, going all the way to the House floor. And every single action taken by every one of you helped to get this bill as far as it got! Your phone calls, emails, and attendance at committee hearings made this bill one of the most newsworthy issues of the legislative session. Thank you!

Once it got to the full House, TrapFree New Mexico lobbyists and advocates like you put hours more work into securing positions on the bill from all of NM’s 70 State Representatives. But we eventually realized that the vote count was too close and too shaky for the bill to move forward. It wasn’t clear we could win, and we did not want fence-sitting representatives to be on record with a ‘no’ vote when we think, with some more time, we can work to gain their support. Because of the lobbying work we’ve done, we now know exactly which legislators and House districts we need to work on for the next go-round, even without a vote taking place. We never knew this before!

And there will be a next go-round! The fight to stop dangerous, cruel, commercialized, recreational trapping on New Mexico’s public lands is feeling very similar to the effort to end cockfighting, which took SEVENTEEN YEARS. We are now seven years into the trapping bill and hope it won’t take that long. Once the needle starts moving (and it has now, thanks to you), it always keeps moving. So take heart.

TrapFree New Mexico will NEVER give up, and we’ll need all of you going forward to be there, too. Thank you for all you did and don’t for a minute think it was wasted. It was incredible to get the bill this far. We will continue to build on this momentum as long as it takes!

Onward in solidarity on behalf of the entire TrapFree New Mexico team, 

Jessica Johnson, Animal Protection Voters
Mary Katherine Ray, Rio Grande Chapter Sierra Club
Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians

PS: Here’s one more helpful action you can take right now. Please send a quick email to thank the bill sponsors and all of the representatives who are on record voting to pass Roxy’s law in committee. Let them know that their commitment to compassion, to public safety, and to ending the suffering and exploitation of wildlife on public land is so appreciated. We will need their support next time too.

Here is their contact information:

Sponsors:
Matthew McQueen matthew.mcqueen@nmlegis.gov
Christine Chandler christine.chandler@nmlegis.gov
Bobby Gonzales roberto.gonzales@nmlegis.gov

Committee yes votes:
Abbas Akhil abbas.akhil@nmlegis.gov
Gail Chasey gail@gailchasey.com
Joanne Ferrary joanne.ferrary@nmlegis.gov
Daymon Ely daymon.ely@nmlegis.gov
Brian Egolf brian.egolf@nmlegis.gov
Dayan Hochman-Vigil dayan.hochman-vigil@nmlegis.gov
Georgene Louis georgene.louis@nmlegis.gov
Andrea Romero andrea@andrearomero.com
Angelica Rubio angelica.rubio@nmlegis.gov
Debra Sarinaña debbie.sarinana@nmlegis.gov
Nathan Small nathan.small@nmlegis.gov
Melanie Stansbury melanie.stansbury@nmlegis.gov

The post 2019 Legislative Session Conclusion and HB 366 “Roxy’s Law” appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Ninety-nine and nine-tenths percent of New Mexicans do not trap, and 70 percent of New Mexicans oppose trapping on public lands. Public lands should be safe for everyone to explore and enjoy without the risk of a lethal encounter. It is clear that trapping is incompatible with public safety and that the destruction will not stop until traps are removed from public lands. In light of the ongoing and escalating conflicts, removing traps from public lands is long overdue.

Charles Fox
Santa Fe

Read the Letter to the Editor in the Santa Fe New Mexican »

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“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.

SPONSORS: Rep. Matthew McQueen, Rep. Christine Chandler, Rep. Bobby Gonzales

The Wildlife Protection & Public Safety Act bans the use of traps, snares, and poisons on New Mexico’s public lands—unless it meets a listed exception.

HB 366 Roxy’s Law Fact Sheet PDF

This is a reasonable solution that will protect wildlife, companion animals, and citizens enjoying New Mexico’s public lands from unnecessary and accidental suffering, injuries, and deaths—and better align the management of wildlife with modern conservation practices and New Mexico voters’ humane values—while still allowing certain key tools for ranchers and government agencies to protect public health and livestock. It will also help mitigate the emotional and financial strain of dealing with the loss or injury of an animal because of the jaws of a trap, a snare, or poisons.

EXCEPTIONS IN THE BILL:

• It does not apply to hunting, fishing, or other implements by hand used to kill wildlife.
• It does not apply to anywhere other than public land, as defined.
• It does not apply to common rodents, listed by species, or birds or fish;
• It allows government entities to protect human health and safety;
• It allows ecosystem management conducted by the NM Dept. of Game & Fish (NMDGF), the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Conservancy Districts;
• It allows the NMDGF to use non-lethal traps/snares to address depredation;
• It allows scientific research;
• It allows the use of live cage traps to remove animals damaging crops, property, or livestock on public land, and to recover lost domestic animals or feral animals;
• It allows tribe and pueblo members to trap for religious or ceremonial purposes.

Why restrict traps, snares and poisons on public lands?

On Thanksgiving weekend in 2018, “Roxy” strangled to death in a snare. As her owner carried her body back to his car, a bobcat caught in a leghold trap chained to a tree lashed out at him. The bobcat was so severely injured that euthanasia was required.

They are indiscriminate and cause needless suffering. Because they are non-selective, non-targeted animals—including family cats and dogs, and endangered species—fall victim to traps, snares, and poisons. Captured animals often further injure themselves while thrashing or chewing off their own limb while trying to escape. Traps often go unchecked long enough that the animal starves, dies of exposure or dehydration, or is killed by another animal before being found. Toxic poisons such as sodium cyanide (used in M-44s) and Compound 1080 result in horrific and excruciating deaths within minutes or as long as 9 traumatic hours of cardiac failure, respiratory arrest, and severe prolonged convulsions leading to eventual death.

New Mexico’s tourism and outdoor recreation economy is damaged by the threat of traps, snares, and poisons on public land. According to the 2011 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Survey of Wildlife-associated Recreation, wildlife-watchers in New Mexico spent $327 million on their activities (increased since 2006) versus trappers spending only $3.5 million (reported in a 2013 NM Department of Game & Fish-commissioned analysis). The #NewMexicoTrue campaign could be destroyed if a tourist’s dog were injured or killed on our public lands.

Current regulations are inadequate and impossible to enforce. Outdoor recreationists and their companion animals have the right to enjoy lands off-trail or off-road without worrying about encountering traps and poisons. Traps have caught both on-leash and off-leash dogs while legally set, and illegally set traps often do not have the required identification information, so the violators are never found.

Traps are not necessary to manage carnivore species to protect livestock. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture estimates that carnivores kill only 0.18% of the total U.S. cattle inventory and 4% of the sheep inventory. Many non-lethal methods—pens, sheds, visual deterrents, guard animals, and cage traps—are effective and widely available. Eight (8) other states ban leghold traps, 14 ban body-gripping traps, and 20 ban snares. Neighboring states Colorado and Arizona banned traps on public land in the mid-1990s, and they see less livestock depredation than New Mexico.

Traps are completely unrelated to species population control or disease control.

Trapping is market driven—the number of traps littering our lands increases with pelt price, not population levels. According to the Centers for Disease Control, National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization, and numerous other scientific, public health and veterinary organizations, use of traps and poisons is unnecessary for disease control.

The post House Bill 366: Wildlife Protection & Public Safety Act appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

The post Fox Killed by M-44 Cyanide Device appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

One wolf, a female — possibly a mom — died after she was removed from the trap. Another, a young male, had his leg so severely injured it had to be amputated. Yet another had two legs caught in two separate traps, but it and the fourth wolf were re-released to the wild and their fate is unknown.

It’s hard to know how long they were trapped there, struggling to escape, dying of thirst or hunger or exposure. It is heartbreaking how many endangered Mexican gray wolves have been injured or killed as a result of commercial and recreational trapping in New Mexico. This is having a significant impact on the recovery of the species. Every wolf lost to trapping is unnecessary and unacceptable.

Leg-hold traps, snares and poisons are banned on public lands in Arizona and all lands in Colorado. We are encouraged that the New Mexico Legislature is currently considering long-overdue legislation that would address commercial and recreation trapping on public land or in areas with non-target species that might prevent future and unnecessary tragedies like this.

New Mexico House Bill 366, the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act, was introduced on January 25, 2019. The Act would make it illegal to use a trap, snare or poison for purposes of capturing, injuring, or killing an animal on public land except in very limited circumstances.

Defenders is eager to see state and federal agencies, including New Mexico Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Forest Service, take action to stop this loss including prohibiting commercial and recreational trapping and poisons in the occupied range of the Mexican gray wolf so recovery goals can be reached.

Read the article in The Medium »

The post Leg-Hold Traps Are Killing Endangered Mexican Gray Wolves appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Roxy, an 8-year-old heeler mix owned by Dave Clark of Española, died in November after being strangled by a trap at Santa Cruz Lake. State Game and Fish Department officers have charged Marty Cordova, 42, of Chimayó with dozens of trapping violations.

Marty Cordova, 42, is facing five counts of trapping within 25 yards of a road, 10 counts of failure to properly mark traps, five counts of failing to check traps every calendar day and 14 counts of unlawful possession of a protected species. All charges are misdemeanors or petty misdemeanors.

The case that launched the investigation was the death of Roxy, an 8-year-old heeler mix owned by Dave Clark of Española. Roxy was strangled by a trap.

Roxy’s death has prompted the introduction of a bill titled “Roxy’s Law,” an anti-trapping measure introduced by state Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo. House Bill 366 is making its way through the Legislature.

In January, after identifying Cordova from surveillance camera images captured at the trapping site where Roxy died, Game and Fish officers served a search warrant on the man’s residence in Chimayó, resulting in the seizure of snares and foothold traps that were not properly marked.

Officers also confiscated 10 bobcat pelts and skulls, six fox pelts, badger and ringtail pelts, cellphones, a camera and a firearm.

“I’m hopeful justice will be served,” Clark, a retired mine regulator, said Wednesday. He praised investigators from the state Department of Game and Fish and the federal Bureau of Land Management.

“I was impressed by law enforcement from the beginning,” Clark said.

In addition to the charges issued by Game and Fish, BLM also issued charges for illegal activity on federal land, a news release said.

Clark, in an interview last month, said he’d been hiking with his dogs around Santa Cruz Lake, a reservoir about 15 miles east of Española, for about 20 years.

During a hike with Roxy on Nov. 25, he said, he decided to take a slightly different path than normal as he was about 100 to 150 yards from where he had parked his pickup. Roxy wasn’t on a leash.

“She was behind me and running to catch up,” Clark said. “I heard this sound and I turned around. She’d been caught in a snare trap. I couldn’t figure how to get it off. She was strangled while I was trying to remove it.”

Clark was able to untie the trap from a nearby tree. As he was carrying his dog back to his truck, he said, he heard another noise and found a bobcat caught in another trap. A game warden later euthanized the bobcat, he said.

An affidavit for a search warrant said that after removing the trap at Santa Cruz Lake, Game and Fish Officer Christian Marrujo noticed there was no identification on the device, as required by state law. Marrujo set up surveillance cameras that eventually captured images of a man checking and removing traps.

In searches of the area where Roxy had been killed, Marrujo and another game officer found several snare traps and a foothold trap, and five places where traps had been set and removed. Two of the traps were about 10 yards from N.M. 503, “set directly in two separate culverts,” according to Marrujo’s affidavit.

The affidavit said the officers discovered the person setting the traps was using a rooster to attract predators to the area. They found two fox carcasses, which had been skinned, as well as the paw of a bobcat.

On Jan. 9, the officers found a blue pickup that matched one that appeared in surveillance camera images. It was a Chevrolet that belongs to Cordova.

Ten days later, the officers searched Cordova’s home.

Cordova is scheduled to appear March 4 in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.

Jessica Johnson of Animal Protection Voters said in a statement Wednesday, “We commend the Department of Game & Fish for their successful investigation and arrest of Roxy’s killer, and we hope that just prosecution will take place to hold that individual accountable.

“However,” Johnson said, “aside from technical violations of trapping rules that the trapper has been charged with, the way Roxy died is otherwise completely legal on vast stretches of New Mexico public land. Public safety and wildlife populations remain subject to the indiscriminate threat of traps, snares and poisons on the land we all share.”

Johnson urged the Legislature to pass McQueen’s bill, which would restrict traps on public land. HB 366 recently passed the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee on an 8-4 vote. It goes next to the House Judiciary Committee.

Read the article in the Santa Fe New Mexican »

The post Officers charge Chimayó man in case that prompted ‘Roxy’s Law’ bill appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

For immediate release
February 13, 2019

Contacts:
Christopher Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, csmith@wildearthguardians.org
Kelly Nokes, Western Environmental Law Center, 575-613-8051, nokes@westernlaw.org
Jessica Johnson, Animal Protection Voters, 505-220-6656, jessica@apnm.org
Michael Robinson, Center for Biological Diversity, 575-313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org

SANTA FE—As a bill to ban recreational and commercial trapping works its way through the New Mexico legislature, indiscriminate trapping is proving an enormous impediment for endangered Mexican gray wolves’ already uphill battle toward recovery. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reports that, since Nov. 2018, five lobos have fallen victim to traps in New Mexico. One of the wolves, female 1565 died in veterinary care. Another, male 1669 lost a leg. Male 1556 was treated and released but was later observed limping. Two other wolves were captured and released without injury.

New Mexico House Bill 366, called “Roxy’s Law” in honor of a dog who died in a trap on public lands in November, would prohibit traps across public lands in New Mexico with exemptions for human health and safety, ecosystem management, and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish depredation trapping. In an 8-4 vote the bill passed the House Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee on Saturday.

“Trapping take a tremendous toll on New Mexico—companion animals, native furbearers, and our most imperiled species pay the price for these indiscriminate killing devices,” said Chris Smith, southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “Public lands and our desert ecosystems cannot bear this burden any longer and it’s time for our elected officials to take action.”

“We are grateful for the state legislature’s thoughtful consideration of House Bill 366 to strike a better balance among diverse interests on New Mexico’s public lands—toward improved public safety, animal welfare, and ecosystem health—that would protect endangered species from dangerous, indiscriminate traps,” said Jessica Johnson, chief legislative officer for Animal Protection Voters.

“Trapping serves no viable wildlife management purpose and is ethically indefensible,” said Camilla Fox, executive director of Project Coyote. “Body-gripping traps, which are inherently indiscriminate, pose a danger not only to pets, but also to threatened and endangered species including Mexican wolves.”

“Banning leghold traps on public lands will save the lives of all types of animals, including endangered Mexican wolves,” said Michael Robinson, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. “Traps are inhumane, sometimes fatal, and the smelly bait intended to attract coyotes is just as likely to draw curious wolves.”

“This is yet another chilling example of the grave threats lobos face, on top of an already dire genetic crisis,” said Kelly Nokes, shared Earth wildlife attorney at Western Environmental Law Center. “Mexican wolves are among our nation’s most critically imperiled species and they need proper protection if they are ever to recover as the law demands. Already threatened by an illegal management rule we’re challenging in court that banishes them from necessary habitat and caps their population at a number too low for recovery, lobos should not be further exposed to the lethal grip of indiscriminate traps strewn across New Mexico’s public lands –– the Mexican wolf population is simply too fragile as it is.”

The annual official count of wild Mexican wolves is ongoing currently. As of last February, there were 114 lobos in the wilds of New Mexico and Arizona. The past year has seen a large number of Mexican wolf mortalities. During the 2017-2018 trapping season, at least four lobos were caught in traps. Two subsequently died.

Domestic dogs are also caught in traps on public lands. Along with Roxy, Ranger died from trap wounds this year. Kekoa lost a leg to a trap in December.

BACKGROUND

TRAPPING

Trapping on public lands is legal in New Mexico. No bag limits exist for furbearer species. The law does not require trap locations to be marked, signed, or for any warnings to be present. No gross receipts tax is levied on fur and pelts sold by trappers. No penalties exist for trappers who unintentionally trap non-target species including endangered species, protected species, domestic animals, pets, humans, or livestock.

No database or official record is kept by any public entity and no requirement exists that trappers report when they have captured a dog in their traps. The pattern these incidents follow are usually similar; dogs screaming and frantically biting at the person desperately trying to rescue them. Veterinary and even human medical treatment along with associated expenses can result, as can long-lasting psychological trauma. Neither New Mexico Game and Fish nor trappers are liable for the damages that are caused by traps.

The true toll that trapping takes on native wildlife is difficult to know. Reporting requirements exist for some species, but not for often-trapped so-called “unprotected furbearers” like coyotes and skunks. The accuracy of reporting is unverifiable, and numbers do not adequately articulate the suffering and carnage that traps wreak on bobcats, foxes, critically imperiled Mexican gray wolves, coyotes, and other animals.

The almost singular excuse for the above-mentioned incidents is that trapping is necessary to control carnivore populations, but scientific studies do not support this assertion. In fact, scientific studies show that trapping and lethally removing carnivore species, like coyotes, often exacerbate conflicts such as those with livestock (see Using Coyotes to Protect Livestock. Wait. What?, Randy Comeleo, Oregon Small Farm News, Vol. XIII No. 2, p. 2, (Spring 2018)).

The existence of trapping by a minuscule subset of the population using New Mexico’s public lands is in direct conflict with one of the state’s most valuable economic strengths: outdoor recreation. Highlighted by the recent New Mexico Outdoor Economics Conference in Las Cruces, the outdoor recreation economy in New Mexico is a current and future boon—diversifying and stabilizing the state’s economy while creating 99,000 direct jobs in the process. Outdoor recreation includes hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, photography, hunting, horseback riding, angling, trail running, and bicycling. This economy is not bolstered by piles of dead animals discarded by public roadways or by the thousands of wild animals taken from New Mexico’s diverse public landscapes for personal profit.

MEXICAN GRAY WOLVES

The lobo, or Mexican wolf, is the smallest, most genetically distinct, and one of the rarest subspecies of gray wolf. The species was listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1976, but recovery efforts have largely foundered because the Service has yet to implement scientifically recommended recovery actions.

Although lobos once widely roamed across the southwestern United States and Mexico, the Mexican wolf was purposefully eradicated from the U.S. on behalf of American livestock, hunting, and trapping interests. Recognizing the Mexican gray wolf’s extreme imperilment, the Service listed it on the federal endangered species list in 1976, but recovery efforts have largely foundered because the Service has yet to take the actions science shows is necessary to restore the species.

In 1998, after the few remaining wolves were put into captivity in an attempt to save the species, the Service released 11 Mexican wolves to a small area on the border of Arizona and New Mexico now known as the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area. The program has limped along ever since, with illegal killings and sanctioned removals subverting recovery.

Mexican wolves are at tremendous risk due to their small population size, limited gene pool, threats from trapping, Wildlife Services’ activities, and illegal killings.

The post Indiscriminate traps kill, injure endangered Mexican wolves, impeding recovery appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Defenders of Wildlife said four wolves have been caught in traps in New Mexico over the past two months. The wolf that died was a female member of the Prieto Pack that roams northern portions of the Gila National Forest. Another member of the pack that was also trapped remains in captivity after having its leg amputated.

The two other wolves that were caught were released back into the wild.

More than 40 wolves have been caught in traps in the Southwest since 2002, according to the group.

“This is having a significant impact on the recovery of the species. Every wolf lost to trapping is unnecessary and unacceptable,” said Bryan Bird, the group’s Southwest program director.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The wolf management team this week is conducting an annual survey to determine how many of the predators are roaming parts of New Mexico and Arizona.

The federal government has struggled over two decades to reintroduce the species to its historic range, being hampered along the way by everything from legal challenges to poaching, politics and concerns over genetic diversity.

Ranchers have pushed back against the reintroduction effort, pointing to around 100 livestock kills in just the past year. Meanwhile, environmentalists have warned that wolves could return to the brink of extinction if more captive-bred animals aren’t released into the wild.

The trapping cases come as debate heats up in the New Mexico Legislature over a proposal that would ban the practice on public lands. While licensed trapping of other furbearing animals is legal, some Democrats argue it’s inhumane.

Critics say a ban would not stop the sort of illegal trapping that usually spurs outrage and that it would leave ranchers without a needed tool for defending cattle from predators.

Currently, trappers must get a license from the state, mark their traps with an identifying number and follow rules about where they can place their traps.

Environmentalists who have been tracking the wolf program pointed to neighboring Arizona and Colorado, where trapping has been banned on public lands. They say the New Mexico legislation is long overdue and could prevent non-target species like wolves from being injured or killed.

Read the article in the Albuquerque Journal »

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HB 366 was heard in its first House committee on Thursday morning. The committee made some technical amendments to the bill but didn’t have time to vote on it.

Supporters say the wildlife trapping ban on public land would protect wildlife.

“Since 2013, nearly 30,000 fur-bearing species have been killed by trappers,” said Christopher Smith, with conservation group Wildearth Guardians. “Our native ecosystems are already pushed to the brink by climate change, by human expansion, by drought, and trapping just another toll being taken on those species.”

Smith says ending trapping on public lands would also protect people and pets.

“Every year we have nearly a dozen dogs who are caught in traps, domestic dogs, who are caught on public land while their owners are recreating with them. We’ve had people who have stepped in traps,” Smith said.

Opponents to the bill – like the New Mexico Cattlegrowers’ Association, say the trapping ban would hurt ranchers financially.

“It’s predator control, very important to our industry out there, to be able to manage the number of predators who will kill our livestock,” said Randell Major, president-elect of the New Mexico Cattlegrowers’ Association.

Other opponents say the ban would result in a population boom of predatory wild animals like coyotes.

“It’s going to hurt the ecosystem here in New Mexico as it’s already done in the other states. It’s been proven that when they lost trapping, the predation just goes out the roof,” said Joe Luna, president of the New Mexico Trappers Association.

Since the committee didn’t vote on the bill yet, they will continue hearing the bill on Saturday.

View this piece on KOB 4 »

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