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.

That’s one positive outcome from the tragic death of an Española dog name Roxy — but it’s hard to be optimistic about the new law’s ability to be effective.

Here’s why: The same agency that will investigate violations of the new anti-trapping law, dubbed “Roxy’s Law” — the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish — handled the investigation of Roxy’s death.

In 2018, a neck snare strangled Roxy, a blue heeler mix, near a hiking trail at Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area north of Española. Marty Cordova, of Chimayó, was charged with 34 counts of illegal trapping activities: 14 counts of unlawful possession of a protected species, 10 counts of failure to mark traps, and five counts each for trapping within 25 yards of a roadway and failure to check traps on a daily basis.

Public attention over Roxy’s death led to a hard-fought campaign to pass the new law, formally known as the Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law last spring after it passed the state House by a single vote.

This month, a jury acquitted Cordova, a Chimayó trapper, of 10 counts of illegal trapping, three years after state officials alleged he set a snare that strangled Roxy.

Cordova’s lawyer, Yvonne K. Quintana, pointed out problems with evidence, including failure to collect snares and traps from the field, and the destruction of photographic evidence.

To be fair, the Game and Fish investigation appeared to be compromised by some Bureau of Land Management procedures. Traps in BLM custody “were not turned over to the Department of Game and Fish, but were destroyed, per their policy, when a case is resolved,” said Jennifer Padgett Macias, 1st Judicial District chief deputy district attorney. Resolved bureaucratically does not mean resolved criminally, folks.

The snare involved in Roxy’s death was destroyed when it was cut off the dog’s body, she said.

The jury found Cordova not guilty of all charges. Would that have been the case had the investigation been without blunders? We’ll never know. But it’s clear wildlife investigators need to do a better job of collecting and safeguarding evidence — or turn it over to someone who can.

And it’s clear the state would have had a much stronger case had Roxy’s Law been in place when she was caught in that snare.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.

Read this editorial in the Albuquerque Journal

The post ABQ Journal Editorial: To catch criminals, trapping ban needs real follow-through appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

This Monday, November 1^st marks the start of New Mexico’s last trapping season on public lands. Thanks in large part to all that you did, Roxy’s Law will take effect on April 1^st 2022 and effectively end the use of traps, snares, and poisons across all public lands in our great state.

But we have one more trapping season to get through first. That means that from Monday, November 1 until March 15, 2022, you can expect to find dangerous, cruel traps and snares awaiting the paws and claws of unsuspecting wildlife and companion animals throughout New Mexico.

Stay alert and stay safe! We encourage you to watch this video to learn how to release your dog from a leghold trap and consider carrying cable-cutters in case your dog encounters a deadly snare. Already this fall we have heard from a New Mexican who has had to free their dog.

As always, if you do encounter a trap, please share your story with us.

We hope that you can enjoy New Mexico’s public lands this winter, but do so knowing that traps are out there. Next winter will be wonderfully different…

–Mary Katherine Ray and the TrapFree New Mexico Coalition

P.S. It’s never too late to thank the lawmakers who helped pass Roxy’s Law. You can look up your state senator and representative here and you can find a list of who voted for Senate Bill 32 here (House) and here (Senate). You can also thank Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham here for signing SB 32 “Roxy’s Law” into law.

The post New Mexico’s last trapping season on public lands appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Senate Bill 32, The Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act, had four committed sponsors, including Sen. Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales and Rep. Christine Chandler, both of whom represent Los Alamos; as well as Sens. Brenda McKenna and Matthew McQueen.

Forty-five years ago my family came upon a trapped animal during a Christmas Tree outing in the Jemez mountains. I have never forgotten the sickening horror associated with that incident. Those who truly believe that mankind was created in the image of God must also believe that they are obliged to behave with the same compassion and grace as our Creator. I have seen with my own eyes that there is nothing graceful nor compassionate about trapping.

Passing the Wildlife Conservation and Safety Act was long overdue. I appreciate and thank all of those who helped make it happen.

Read this Letter in the Los Alamos Reporter

The post Passage Of Wildlife Conservation and Safety Act “Roxy’s Law” Long Overdue appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

New Mexico’s public lands are a treasure trove of opportunity for our state. They are cherished by all and an asset to our state’s future. And public lands will be even more important as New Mexico’s post-pandemic economic recovery will be aided in large part by our burgeoning outdoor recreation industry and strong tourism industry. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham brings the vision and leadership to make that effort a great success.

But story after story, year after year, has revealed a persistent, lurking problem on our public lands. Maya Anthony was 17 years old when a family outing on national forest land near her home in San Cristobal was cut short after her dog, Joker, was caught in a leg-hold trap. Panicked and in pain, the dog struggled and lashed out while his family tried to rescue him – leading to a deep puncture wound on Maya’s arm, and a laceration on her mother Nina’s leg. Unable to free the dog, Maya drove down the canyon to fetch her father at home for help, and he returned with towels to hold over the dog’s head while they released Joker’s paw. After about a half hour of suffering in the trap, Joker’s foot was free and thankfully healed after a few days – but Maya temporarily lost full motion of her arm and required a round of antibiotics to stave off infection.

After this incident, Maya swore to advocate to stop trapping on public lands, and her advocacy led to the first introduction of legislation to address this problem in 2013. Almost a decade later, Senate Bill 32 has passed the New Mexico Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature to become law.

As co-sponsors of Senate Bill 32, the Wildlife Conservation & Public Safety Act a.k.a. Roxy’s Law, we come to this subject matter with unique perspectives but have arrived at the same conclusion: It is time to end private recreational and profit-driven use of traps, snares and poisons on public lands in New Mexico. We are ready to put stories like Maya’s – and Roxy’s, the dog who died in a neck snare on public land in 2018 – in the past.

In this very moment, New Mexico has an opportunity to recommit to progressive, science-based, forward-thinking wildlife conservation. We can stop sabotaging our endangered species conservation efforts with accidental trapping injuries and deaths of Mexican gray wolves. As climate change continues to alter our land and water, we can renew our focus on responsible, thoughtful, humane management of wildlife species. We can join our neighbors of Colorado and Arizona as one of multiple states in the West who have removed hobby and commercial trapping from our public lands.

New Mexico is home to landscapes that provide unparalleled opportunities for hiking, backpacking, hunting, biking, rock climbing and more. We are home to millions of acres of richly biodiverse habitats, with unique native wildlife and endangered species populations that draw visitors hoping to watch birds, hear wolves and turn nature’s beauty into art. New Mexico’s outdoor recreation economy is growing faster than the overall state economy, and that is something we can leverage to benefit our urban and rural communities alike and support our home-grown businesses.

Thanks to our public lands, the future looks bright for New Mexico. Traps, snares and poisons have led to too many tragic endings. New Mexicans stand ready to tell a new story on our public lands – one of leadership in conservation, community, and green economic opportunities. By signing Senate Bill 32 into law, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s pen starts that new story for us all.

Read this Guest Column in the Albuquerque Journal »

The post Guest Column: Ending traps on public land starts NM’s outdoor future appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

If you haven’t heard, Roxy’s Law to ban traps, snares, and poisons from New Mexico public lands has been introduced as Senate Bill 32 and already passed its first committee hearing with bipartisan support! Thank you everyone who sent emails and made phone calls! But that’s just step one.

The next step is the Senate Judiciary Committee—we hope you can take 2 minutes to help us clear this important hurdle. All you have to do is click here to send an email to the committee: Be sure to include your full name, any entity or organization you may represent, and write that you support SB 32 and why; please also include that you are from New Mexico, as legislators are being bombarded by out-of-state trappers. Here is a handy list of talking points if you need it.

Tell the NM Senate Judiciary Committee: VOTE YES on SB 32!

Trapping incidents are happening at an alarming rate across the state. It has never been more clear the trapping on public lands is totally inconsistent with other uses. Since the beginning of November, we know of at least 9 dogs who have been caught in traps. One, a German shepherd named Ceniza, nearly died in a neck snare like Roxy two years ago. Another was caught in two leghold traps on the same hike just last week. Two endangered Mexican wolves recently required veterinary care due to private traps.

These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg—no doubt thousands of wild animals have already been trapped and killed since the trapping season began three months ago.

Please raise your voice to help end the cruelty and suffering on public lands. Click here to send an email to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ask them to support SB 32, tell them why you oppose public lands trapping, and don’t forget to tell them that you’re from New Mexico.

If your Senator sits on the committee, please email him/her separately and let them know that you are a constituent who supports SB 32.

Thank you as always from the TrapFree New Mexico Coalition!

The post Tell the NM Senate Judiciary Committee to Vote Yes on SB 32! appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Santa Fe, NM 

We share this video from New York because animals in New Mexico experience the exact same torture when caught in the same cruel traps that are legal in both states and many others. The good samaritan encountered the coyote while hiking on public lands and discovered the unfortunate animal had both front legs caught in a trap. Fortunately, the hiker was able to free the animal from the leghold trap. During New Mexico’s current trapping season, this same traumatic experience has occurred at least seven times to animals and people hiking on public lands. In six cases, the hikers’ own dogs were cruelly trapped. In another incident, hikers encountered a lone dog struggling in a leghold trap.

“No one—neither residents nor visitors to the Land of Enchantment—should have to encounter the excruciating experience of a wild or companion animal maimed or killed by traps, snares or poisons,” said Michelle Lute, National Carnivore Conservation Manager for Project Coyote. “It’s 2021 and well past time to finally end the egregious and cruel practice of trapping.”

“There’s disconnect, for many people, about what large-scale private trapping means,” said Chris Smith, Southern Rockies Wildlife Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “For every one of the 150,000 animals killed since 2008, there is a story like this one. A story of a desperate or maimed living being on its way to a cruel death.”

The good samaritan remains anonymous because, despite the clearly heroic act, rescuing a trapped animal and tampering with a trap is technically against the law in many states. Other laws governing trapping regulations, such as trap check durations and distance from roads and trails, are rarely if ever enforced.

ASK YOUR NEW MEXICO LEGISLATORS TO SUPPORT SB 32 “ROXY’S LAW”

Roxy’s Law has been introduced as Senate Bill 32. If the proposed legislation does not become law, the video will continue to be illustrative of how to save your dog or a wild animal from archaic and cruel traps. If successful, this important legislation will prevent future residents and visitors from the traumatic experience of encountering traps on New Mexico’s public lands and save countless animal lives. To read more about SB 32, click here.

The post Video Released Showing the Excruciating Experience of Rescuing a Coyote Caught in a Trap 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.

The state Game and Fish Department said a man from Chimayó set an illegal trap that took Roxy’s life.

What happened to Roxy led a group of Democratic state legislators to introduce a bill to ban all traps, snares or wildlife poisons on public lands in New Mexico. Neighboring Arizona and Colorado already have such a prohibition on trapping.

Ranchers closed ranks to work for the bill’s defeat. They say traps, even ones on public lands, help protect their livestock from predators.

Their argument carried the day. The anti-trapping bill failed in the state House of Representatives in 2019, soon after Roxy’s death had become a national story.

The debate over trapping on public lands in New Mexico went on hiatus. It will resume soon enough, even if members of the state House must limit the number of bills they sponsor next year.

State Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, says a new version of what he calls Roxy’s Bill will be introduced when legislators begin their 60-day session in January.

Outlawing trapping on public lands has been one of McQueen’s priorities since Roxy’s death.

“For me, personally, I think it’s cruel,” McQueen said Tuesday. “Whether it’s a pet or a coyote that’s trapped, the suffering doesn’t change.”

Read the article in the Santa Fe New Mexican »

The post Santa Fe New Mexican: Limit on legislation won’t leave out the late Roxy appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

New Mexicans have worked hard over the years to do right by the animals in our state. We have banned cockfighting, horse tripping and coyote-killing contests. We have made dog fighting a fourth-degree felony. We have created a dedicated funding stream for low-cost spay and neuter services.

And now it is time we finally stop allowing the brutal, indiscriminate use of traps on our public lands.

For a paltry $20 permit, members of a small and vocal minority are allowed to litter our amazing public lands with as many leg-hold, body-gripping and cage traps, snares and poisons as they want. There is no limit to the number of animals they can maim and kill. No requirement they take only a certain species or gender or quickly put a suffering animal out of its misery. They can leave their traps unchecked for up to two days as anything suffers in them.

And since Nov. 1, three pet dogs have been caught in these traps (including Jesse, a 2-year-old Dutch shepherd who suffered minimal injuries from a trap in the Jemez National Recreation Area on Thanksgiving, and Mahlia, a black lab who lost many of her toes in a trap in northern Santa Fe County). Meanwhile, a hiker in Doña Ana County found a gruesome pile of more than a dozen skinned coyote carcasses, many with obvious trapping wounds on their legs. A map from TrapFree New Mexico shows incidents of traps catching people, pets and the wrong kind of animal stretch across our national forest, BLM and state trust lands.

Put that on a tourism ad.

The window dressing of “updates” the feckless state Game and Fish Department adopted last year to make trapping more palatable was just that, and real reforms are past due.

Jessica Johnson of Animal Protection Voters New Mexico says that once again, her group and others will advocate for Roxy’s Law, aka the Wildlife Protection and Public Safety Act. (It is named for family dog Roxy, an 8-year-old blue heeler-mix that strangled to death in a neck snare at Santa Cruz Lake in 2018. Her owner desperately, unsuccessfully, tried to save her.)

Versions of this reasonable legislation died in the 2017 and 2019 legislative sessions, so it is important to emphasize again to lawmakers and the public alike that it:

• Pertains only to public land, not private property.
• Does not affect hunting with firearms, archery, fishing or falconry equipment.
• Still allows trapping of mice, rats, pack rats, gophers, prairie dogs, moles, voles, rock squirrels, birds or fish.
• Provides exceptions for bona fide scientific research as well as government agencies to prevent/mitigate threats to human health and safety and address livestock depredation.
• Allows cage traps to capture wildlife and feral and domesticated animals that cause damage to property, crops or livestock, as well as to recover a domesticated animal or trap-neuter-release a feral animal.
• Exempts members of federally recognized Indian nations, tribes and pueblos for religious or ceremonial purposes.

New Mexico has long been an outlier on trapping. Colorado and California have banned it statewide, and Arizona and Washington have banned it on public land. That’s because they recognize trapping is indiscriminate, cruel, threatens recreationists and tourists, kills our threatened and endangered species (at least eight Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico) and, because there are no bag limits, presents a real threat to our already threatened ecosystem.

Trapping is in no way “New Mexico True.” New Mexico needs to make 2021 the year it adds a ban on trapping on public lands to its important list of successful animal and wildlife legislation.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.

Read this Editorial in the Albuquerque Journal »

The post Albuquerque Journal Editorial: Nothing about traps is New Mexico True appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.