The use of body-gripping traps is cruel. The suffering of animals caught and held by leg hold traps for long hours or days is unjustifiable: they struggle to be free, the agony of a limb imprisoned in sub-zero cold, the pain of injuries caused by the all-out fight to escape, the broken teeth from biting at the trap, the thirst, hunger, anxiety, terror, the menace of attack by other animals. And the way of death: the trapper clubs the animal, then stands on its chest to cause suffocation.
We, the undersigned, seek to prohibit the recreational and commercial use of hidden steel-jaw leg-hold traps, wire snares and other body-gripping animal traps on New Mexico's public lands.
These traps do not reliably differentiate between the intended target and many other non-target animals which may be cruelly maimed or killed. People and pets are also at risk. Unlimited, profit-driven trapping can harm and deplete wildlife communities. The use of traps is NOT humane.
