News & Updates
NM Hikers: Beware of Hidden Animal Traps on Public Lands
February 12, 2018 SANTA FE, N. M. – There's still a month left in the animal-trapping season and, with the weather warming, hikers on public lands need to exercise caution – especially if they bring their dogs along. Trapping for fox, badger, weasel, ringtail and...
Norway to Shut Down All Mink and Fox Fur Factories By 2025
Newsweek January 15, 2018 Norway introduced a total ban on fur farming which will go into full effect once the farms are shut down in 2025. Read the article in Newsweek
Placitas fox-rescuer wants record cleared
A man who released a fox from a foot-hold trap near Placitas recently has filed an appeal that seeks to have his record cleared of a criminal complaint made against him by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The complaint, filed Jan. 11 in Sandoval County...
STOP! Trapping in New Mexico – Albuquerque Journal Letters to the Editor January 16, 2018
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Editorial: Trapping, killing contests should have no place in NM
Welcome to the Land of Enchantment, where: If you find a wild animal caught in a trap, you can neither free it nor put it out of its misery. You can kill as many non-game animals – porcupines, prairie dogs, rabbits, ground squirrels, Himalayan tahrs, skunks, feral...
Man who freed fox from trap is in hot water
A man who recently released a fox from a foot-hold trap near Placitas found himself in a bind after the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish learned about the incident. Gary Miles, founder and owner of Placitas Animal Rescue, said a Game and Fish officer called him...
Another Dog Caught in a Trap in the Jemez
Jemez Post, November 30, 2017 A dog being walked by a couple of Jemez folks ran into an animal trap set in an arroyo beside a designated road, on Forest Road 376, about half a mile north of the Gilman Tunnels. They were alerted to the animal’s distress when it began...
Lawsuit aims to end commercial fur trapping in California
Conservation groups, aiming to end California’s dwindling fur trade, filed a lawsuit Wednesday that would force state wildlife authorities to raise license fees to levels required by law to cover the full costs of regulating the trapping, killing and skinning of wild...
Bobcat Economic Value Study
Summary of Study from Wyoming Untrapped During the winter of 2016, a bobcat was frequently seen near the Madison River in Yellowstone. This single bobcat brought in tourists, photographers, and wildlife watchers from nationwide which resulted in an economic benefit to...
This bobcat brings in $308,000 a year
Nice write-up in the Washington Post. Tourism is huge in New Mexico producing 100,000 jobs and generating over $2 billion in total annual income. Trapping, not so much. A bobcat’s economic value depreciates almost 1,000 times the moment you put a bullet in it. This is...
Eva Mendes Takes a Look at the International Fur Trade
WARNING: VIOLENT IMAGERY OF ANIMALS TRAPPED, MUTILATED AND KILLED
Legislative Update: Senate Bill 286
UPDATE MARCH 18, 2017 The New Mexico legislature ended its 2017 session today without any further action on SB 286, the NM WILDLIFE PROTECTION & PUBLIC SAFETY ACT. This billed stalled in its first hearing in the Senate Conservation Committee and no further action...
Senate Memorial 100 – DIALOGUE ON FUTURE OF TRAPPING IN NM
SENATE MEMORIAL 100 53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017 INTRODUCED BY Pete Campos A MEMORIAL REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH TO ENGAGE IN A DIALOGUE REGARDING THE FUTURE OF TRAPPING IN NEW MEXICO. WHEREAS, New Mexico is home to a...
Senators can’t even say the word ‘cruelty’
By David J. Forjan / Tularosa Resident Friday, March 3rd, 2017 In the six decades I’ve been on this planet, American society has become continuously more violent. Movies, TV shows, video games. Mass shootings at churches, temples, mosques, schools. No one single event...
RADIO INTERVIEW: Legislation on Trapping, Poisoning & Hunting Contests with Mary Katherine Ray, Sierra Club, Rio Grande Chapter
Mary Katherine Ray discusses Legislation on Trapping, Poisoning & Hunting Contests with Mary Katherine Ray, Sierra Club, Rio Grande Chapter on The Richard Eeds Show - February 14, 2017.
UPDATE – Senate Bill SB 286 to will be heard Tuesday, Feb 21, at 8 AM. Please arrive early if you plan to attend.
Senate Bill 286, the NM WILDLIFE PROTECTION & PUBLIC SAFETY ACT to prohibit traps and poisons on New Mexico's public lands has been rescheduled in the Senate Conservation Committee. It was taken off the agenda last week but is now back on. It will be heard this...
Editorial: NM trapping supporters should look at this photo
Albuquerque Journal, February 1, 2017 For years, those who support the archaic and barbaric practice of using leghold, bodygrip and snare traps have argued it’s simply a way of life and livelihood for a segment of New Mexico’s population. They wax nostalgic about...
Bobcat in barn still had foot caught in illegal trap
By Rick Nathanson / Albuquerque Journal From time to time, Christine Landers would encounter the same “beautiful” male bobcat in her Placitas barn early in the morning when she awoke to feed her horses and do other chores. They would briefly make eye contact before...
Judge: Challenge to cougar trapping may proceed
A federal magistrate judge is allowing a lawsuit that asserts a state wildlife agency’s decision to open a cougar trapping season on public lands violates the Endangered Species Act to proceed. The cougar trapping season, which began Nov. 1 and ends March 31, is the...
ABQ Journal Editorial: 3 wildlife bills cost zero, provide moral high ground
There is a trio of wildlife bills proposed this legislative session that would cost the state – and thus taxpayers – nothing in cash while earning them the moral high ground when it comes to respecting New Mexico’s wildlife and ecosystems, which belong to those same...
Cull of the Wild: The Truth behind Trapping
A provocative exposé of the corrupt and inhumane trapping industry that kills between four and five million animals annually, perpetuated indiscriminately by the Wildlife Services arm of the US government.
Breaking News: Cougar Trapping Season Has Started
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...
Tragedy for a Dog and Her Family Proves Traps Have No Place in Our State
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...
Albuquerque Journal Editorial: Another 4-legged reason NM should ban traps
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
Know Your NM State Legislators!
Your New Mexico state Senator and Representative have the power to ban traps, snares and poisons on public lands. Find out who they are and let them know you oppose trapping on public lands. A simple phone call and email can make all the difference.
People's Forum Panel Report on Public Lands Trapping
The New Mexico Legislature should ban trapping on public lands in New Mexico because traps harm people, animal companions, and whole populations of wildlife including rare species. Most New Mexican voters believe that trapping is cruel and unnecessary.
TrapFree Friends
Animal Protection Voters
Black Bear Bureau
Footloose Montana
Fur Free Alliance
Furbearer Defenders
League of Humane Voters
Lobos of the Southwest
Mercy for Animals
National Urban Wildlife Coalition
No Cruel Traps on Public Lands
People's Forum Panel on New Mexico Public Lands Trapping
Predator Defense
Project Coyote
Pulling for Life
TrailSafe Nevada
Trap Free Montana
TrapFree Oregon
Wyoming Untrapped