HSUS: Oregon Fails to Adopt Humane Standards for Trap Checks, Allows Unnecessary Suffering of Animals to Continue

2/6/2004

From: Kelly Peterson, 503-869-0422; or Wayne Pacelle, 202-285-1741, both of the Humane Society of the United States

PORTLAND, Ore., Feb. 6 -- Today, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation's largest animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and constituents in Oregon, expressed extreme disappointment with the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission (OFWC) for its failure to adopt more responsible trapping regulations to protect Oregon's wildlife. Oregon's trap check rules were among the worst in the nation, and today's actions did virtually nothing to improve the situation.

The HSUS had asked that traps be checked every 24 hours, as rules stipulate in more than 30 other states. Seeing resistance to this modest proposal, The HSUS demanded at least a 48-hour trap check requirement. This standard would have been good public policy, maintaining a consistent, enforceable, and more humane trap check time for all animals. Yet, trappers and rural senators demanded much more lax trap check times.

Specifically, the Commission action will allow trappers to go for up to 76 hours without checking their traps for predatory animals. If the trapping is done for "damage control," the traps need to be checked only every seven days. Conibear traps need be checked only every 30 days.

Prior to the Commission's action today, Oregon had no trap check requirements for coyotes. However, Oregon did have a 48- hour trap check requirement for furbearers (bobcats, raccoons, beavers, etc).

"The Commission has abrogated its responsibility to provide the most elemental humane standards for trapping," said Wayne Pacelle, a senior vice president of The Humane Society of the United States. "Animals caught in inhumane traps will languish not for hours, but for days. The Commission has all but incited humane and wildlife protection organizations to renew their effort to pass a comprehensive ballot initiative to halt the use of inhumane traps in Oregon."

The HSUS pointed out that the new standards established by the Commission are unworkable and unenforceable. With four different trap check times -- all of which are too permissive -- trappers will simply claim that they were targeting predatory animals, and, as a practical matter, Oregon's wildlife will be subjected to the least restrictive trap check intervals.

"Given that more than 30 states mandate 24-hour or daily trap check requirements, it is most disappointing that the state will allow animals to linger in traps for three to thirty days," remarked Kelly Peterson, Oregon program coordinator for The HSUS. "The suffering the animals will endure is immense."

Animals caught in traps suffer from the effects of extreme cold, predation, dehydration, and starvation. Some animals are known to twist off or chew off a leg to escape the vise grip of the trap. Peer-reviewed research reveals that both target and non-target animals sustain injuries and experience stress in steel-jawed leghold and snare traps. Studies show that even within a 24-hour period hemorrhaging, fractured bones, and broken jaws and teeth are common in animals trying to struggle free from the traps. The severity of injuries and anxiety animals endure are compounded by the length of time the animals languish in the traps.

The HSUS is the nation's largest animal protection organization with more than seven million members and constituents. For nearly 50 years, The HSUS has protected all animals through legislation, litigation, investigation, education, advocacy and fieldwork.