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A recent BDN article listed new animal trapping regulations in Maine. While I am against hunting for sport, I am amazed that people still use traps. While guides and trappers will claim they follow legal protocols and regulations, I find it inhumane and simply cruel to use a device that causes severe lacerations, broken bones, joint dislocations or the drowning of wild animals.
Once “caught” the creature is typically in severe pain, frightened and totally helpless until the trapper eventually returns. Depending on location, Maine law only requires traps to be checked every five days. Meaning there is the real possibility for an animal, including a non-target species such as endangered wildlife or a family pet, to get caught and die a horribly painful death over five days.
Why is this activity considered a sport or even permitted? Is it the power over the defenseless animal, the ability to legally inflict inhumane pain or the surprise of what animal breed is trapped that causes a person to trap?
Sounds like the sport is “trapped” in the 1800s to me.
Charles Mitchell
Belfast