· All Trapping Laws are Self-Regulated by the Trapper

No law enforcement or Department of Fish and Wildlife staff inspect trap lines. There is no "season" for trapping on your own property for "nuisance" control. Dangerous traps can be just a few feet from your property at any time of year. Trappers and your neighbors do not have to notify you that traps are near your property. Traps are "baited" with tuna, sardines, spam and animal parts that attract ALL animals.

· Save Wildlife and Reduce Unnecessary Pain and Suffering

In the U.S. alone, more than 4 million animals a year are trapped and killed for profit and "recreation." Millions more are trapped and killed in predator and "nuisance" wildlife control programs. These figures do not include the millions of non-target animals killed each year in traps set for other species.

· Body-gripping Traps Are Cruel and Indiscriminate

Body-gripping traps -- which include leghold traps, strangulation neck snares, and Conibear kill-traps -- are notoriously cruel and indiscriminate. If not killed outright by such traps, captured animals can suffer severe physical injury, psychological trauma, dehydration, exposure to severe weather, and predation by other animals. Most body-gripping traps will capture any animal that triggers them, including threatened and endangered species, raptors, and domestic dogs and cats.

· The Majority of Americans and Veterinary Associations Oppose Leghold Traps

Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans oppose leghold traps and other cruel body-gripping traps. A 1978 national survey conducted by Yale University professor Stephen Kellert for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that 78% of respondents opposed the use of steel-jaw leghold traps. In 1996, a national poll commissioned by the Animal Welfare Institute showed 74% of Americans opposed the use of leghold traps. The American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, the World Veterinary Association, and the National Animal Control Association have all deemed the leghold trap to be inhumane.

· The Use of Cruel Traps Is Unnecessary

Trapping with body-gripping traps for "wildlife management" or disease control purposes is often ineffective and sometimes counterproductive because of the random nature of traps. There are other humane alternative live-capture devices such as box, cage, and culvert traps that can be used for these purposes.

· 90 Countries Have Banned the Leghold Trap

Although 90 nations have banned the leghold trap, only eight U.S. states have banned or severely restricted its use. As a result of public pressure, all 15-member nations of the European Union banned the leghold trap in 1995. More and more countries recognize the inherent cruelty of leghold traps and other body-gripping devices and seek research into humane capture alternatives.

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