BigHornRam
Well-known member
Hey Buzz,
Are you ready to defend your right to trap? As of late, it has been under attack in your home town. A couple weeks ago, a dog that was running loose and was caught in a trap and shoot by the trapper. This has touched off a barage of anti-trapping articles and letters to the editor in the Missoulian. Yesterday had a bleeding heart article about a wolf that was trapped just outside Denali Park in Alaska. Here's a good letter in todays paper.
Trapping only causes suffering
Trapping is antiquated and barbaric, and its demise is surely approaching. Will it expire quietly along with the next few generations of anachronistic "mountain men," or die thrashing and bleeding in the leghold of public outrage?
As trappers rush to castigate dog owners, they conveniently ignore the fact that one of their own put two bullets into the head of a beloved canine companion snared unintentionally in the Bitterroot. So much for the "ethics" of trapping. This incident is a public relations nightmare for trapping associations; no wonder it remains unaddressed while red herrings (dog attacks on humans, dogs as nonnative species) foul the air. You can't defend the indefensible.
Although trapping associations try mightily to wash their garbage with euphemisms, ("humane methods," "furbearer management," "proper predator control"), it's still garbage and belies the fact that trapped animals suffer and suffer horribly. But how do you put a positive spin on an activity driven by greed, ignorance, and a terrifying absence of compassionate humanity? Whether one "harvests" a "fur" for cash or "eliminates predators" out of irrational hatred, wild animals suffer greatly before dying hideous deaths at the hands of people who embody the worst of our species.
If indeed, what goes around comes around, a special circle in hell certainly awaits those humans who visit such intentional pain and cruelty on fellow animals. As for the vast majority of Americans who respond to polls saying they oppose trapping and animal suffering, our continued silence puts us in league with the trappers. We express outrage when the victim is a domestic dog; why are we silent when the intended targets are equally intelligent and feeling wild dogs - foxes and coyotes - which experience the same pain and anguish?
If you call yourself an "animal lover," speak for them.
Kathleen Stachowski, Lolo
Are you ready to defend your right to trap? As of late, it has been under attack in your home town. A couple weeks ago, a dog that was running loose and was caught in a trap and shoot by the trapper. This has touched off a barage of anti-trapping articles and letters to the editor in the Missoulian. Yesterday had a bleeding heart article about a wolf that was trapped just outside Denali Park in Alaska. Here's a good letter in todays paper.
Trapping only causes suffering
Trapping is antiquated and barbaric, and its demise is surely approaching. Will it expire quietly along with the next few generations of anachronistic "mountain men," or die thrashing and bleeding in the leghold of public outrage?
As trappers rush to castigate dog owners, they conveniently ignore the fact that one of their own put two bullets into the head of a beloved canine companion snared unintentionally in the Bitterroot. So much for the "ethics" of trapping. This incident is a public relations nightmare for trapping associations; no wonder it remains unaddressed while red herrings (dog attacks on humans, dogs as nonnative species) foul the air. You can't defend the indefensible.
Although trapping associations try mightily to wash their garbage with euphemisms, ("humane methods," "furbearer management," "proper predator control"), it's still garbage and belies the fact that trapped animals suffer and suffer horribly. But how do you put a positive spin on an activity driven by greed, ignorance, and a terrifying absence of compassionate humanity? Whether one "harvests" a "fur" for cash or "eliminates predators" out of irrational hatred, wild animals suffer greatly before dying hideous deaths at the hands of people who embody the worst of our species.
If indeed, what goes around comes around, a special circle in hell certainly awaits those humans who visit such intentional pain and cruelty on fellow animals. As for the vast majority of Americans who respond to polls saying they oppose trapping and animal suffering, our continued silence puts us in league with the trappers. We express outrage when the victim is a domestic dog; why are we silent when the intended targets are equally intelligent and feeling wild dogs - foxes and coyotes - which experience the same pain and anguish?
If you call yourself an "animal lover," speak for them.
Kathleen Stachowski, Lolo
