By Jessica Johnson, APV Chief Legislative Officer
Wednesday, Mar. 23, 2016
A trap set to catch cougars doesn’t know how to only catch cougars. Obviously.
This truth—that traps and snares are indiscriminate and dangerous—has been driven home time and time again.
It feels like the 2015-2016 trapping season has been the most destructive so far—with numerous reports of unsuspecting New Mexicans and their dogs encountering these cruel devices while hiking on public lands.
The media has been instrumental in shedding light on the widespread threat. On Thanksgiving Day hike near Santa Fe, Z Jacobson’s dog, Noodles, fell victim, losing part of her ear while frantically trying to escape. In December, Patti Foy shared her harrowing experience in the Jemez area when a trap captured her dog, Roxy, resulting in almost $1000 in vet bills for injuries, including extraction of teeth that broke while Roxy tried to gnaw off the trap. And just this month while strolling in Tijeras Canyon, Tedi Witt’s dog, Bo, pulled the leash from her hands and landed in a trap, injuring Tedi who endured an excruciating 45 minutes to release Bo. And even before trapping season, earlier in the summer, the now legendary dog, Cub, was caught in a bear trap and chewed off his back leg to free himself before being rescued and rehabilitated by rescue organization NMDOG.
These stories are just some of the trapping incidences reported in the last year, and they exemplify why the State Game Commission’s decision on August 27,2015, to expand cougar trapping was so devastating.
The Game Commission’s decision to dramatically expand cougar trapping was not grounded in science or fact, but rather was based on seemingly make-believe data. Traps are horrifyingly cruel and reckless devices—like a game of Russian roulette with public safety and animals’ lives—that New Mexicans want to see gone for good. An August 2015 poll of over 1,000 New Mexico voters showed that the public opposed the cougar trapping expansion by a three-to-one margin across all demographics. Traps violate sound wildlife management practices, ethical hunting principles, and conservation values—and they have no place in our state.
WHAT’S NEXT?
I’m pleased that Animal Protection of New Mexico is leading the charge in appealing the Game Commission’s cougar trapping rule to the state Court of Appeals, arguing the decision was improper because it was arbitrary and capricious—as well as challenging the rule under the federal Endangered Species Act. Read more about the case here.
On the legislative side, Animal Protection Voters cannot rely on the current body of law which is insufficient to protect wildlife—we must create the very laws we need. The vast majority of New Mexicans unequivocally wants a ban on traps and snares—as well as gruesome poisons—on the public lands we all share and use.
But in 2015 the bill to ban traps and poisons was introduced in the state House of Representatives and referred straight to the House Agriculture, Water and Wildlife Committee, where it died a swift legislative death. And the Game Commission’s cougar trapping expansion decision? That mess started with a State Representative publicly urging the Game & Fish Department to do something to kill more cougars after his bill to strip cougar protections failed.
We know that before we can find success in passing stronger laws, there is a lot of work to be done to put humane-minded lawmakers in place, and ensuring that the leadership in control of the legislature—the leaders that decide committee makeup and referrals—will do the right thing for popular and common-sense animal protection policy.
With so much at stake, will you take action?
Your financial support of our political action committee, APV-PAC, gives New Mexico’s animals a voice in this pivotal election year. Through APV-PAC, we are working hard to elect pro-animal candidates to the state Senate and House of Representatives in the 2016 election cycle. With your help, we activate grassroots support, execute a robust voter registration and Get Out The Vote effort, and issue candidate endorsements, all to ultimately achieve pro-animal protection majorities in both chambers next year.
