Companion Animals in Traps
Photo by AWI
Overview
AWI opposes the use of steel-jaw traps for wildlife. The indiscriminate use of these traps poses grave danger to companion animals as well, when traps are hidden along wildlife trails that may be used by companion animals. If a dog or cat should have the misfortune to step on the pan of the trap and trigger it, the trap’s jaws slam violently together on the poor animal’s foot or leg and hold it in a vice-like grip.
Take Action: Help Restrict Body-Gripping Traps on Wildlife RefugesThe pain is so intense the animal may struggle fiercely in an effort to break free. Injuries can include torn or severed tendons and ligaments, joint dislocation, lacerations, and broken bones. If circulation is restricted or cut off to the trapped limb, gangrene can set in quickly. Some animals bite at the traps, trying to get away—even gnawing their teeth down to the jawbone. Still others are known to chew off their own trapped limbs to escape.
People who attempt to release their own dog or cat from a trap may end up being bitten because of the animal’s frenzy. Some traps are set up alongside or in the water, and trapped animals are typically pulled into the water, where they drown.
Any animal freed from a trap should be rushed immediately to a veterinarian for treatment. It is critical to look for gangrene as many trapped animals required amputation of the foot or leg because of necrosis.
Steel-jaw leghold traps used for the capture of wild furbearing animals inflict terrible suffering on their victims. The American Veterinarian Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, the World Veterinary Association, and the National Animal Control Association all agree that leghold traps are inhumane for wildlife as well as companion animals who may accidentally come across them.
Take Action for Terrestrial Wildlife
Help Restrict Body-Gripping Traps on Wildlife Refuges
Nearly half of all National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) lands allow the use of steel-jaw leghold and other body-gripping traps, which aren’t selective about who they catch and inflict prolonged agony on anyone caught in their grip. No wild animal, pet, or person should fear a bone-crushing trap snapping shut on them on land that is meant to be a haven for wildlife and the public. Please ask your US representative to cosponsor the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act (H.R. 4108), legislation to remove these traps from the NWRS, with limited exceptions.
Trapping and Penning
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