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The Ethics of Trapping 249 The Ethics of Trapping 249 trapping has had upon wildlif& there evidence of wild animals having been eliminated as a result of trapping, either intentionally or anintentionally? CHAPTER TEN Three animals which have suffered from the effects of trapping in Britain during the last hundred years are the wildcat, the polecat and the pine marten. They have been persecuted by man for centuries, The Ethics of Trapping either for their pelts, useful as a commercial commodity, or because of theiralleged attacks ongame. Thepersecution increasedduring the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and at various periods was en- couraged by the offer of bounties or ‘tail money’. J. Ritchie, in his CATCI~ING animals by means of traps is a method of hunting and, book Beasts and Birds as Farm Pests, reported 901 wildcats, martens like all other forms of this human activity, it is liable to be inter. and polecats killed between 1831 and 1834 on the Duchess of preted or misinterpreted in many different ways. Sutherland’s estates. Protagonists of animal trapping argue as to the efficiency of pat- By 1907, all three animals had become extinct in England and the titular types of traps and the advantages of one trapping method 88 polecat in Scotland. The wildcat and marten have managed to hang against another. Pest eradicators judge traps and trapping methods on by a thread in the far north of Scotland, and the polecat and against other control measures such as shooting, pesticides and the marten have survived in the more remote and less populated areas of destruction of habitats. Scientists who use traps in research an Wales. It is true that methods other than trapping have been used- concerned with their thoroughness in sampling populations and shooting and poisoning-but these animals, by nature, fall foul of selecting one kind of animal in preference to others. traps more easily then they succumb to guns. Poisoning has never The opponents of trapping argue against its use almost exclusively been as popular as trapping because it offers even less opportunity on the grounds of inhumane capture of animals, coupled with a for catch selection. doubt concerning the economics of a process which they consider Between 1930 and 1954 deliberate trapping of polecats in West unselective and liable to yield a small return for much effort. Wales almost eliminated them from that area. This was during a ’ From these conflicting opinions, which are often reinforced with period of intensive rabbiting. The polecats were trapped before each vested interests, it is dificult to elicit facts and truths. Nor is the rabbit-trapping operation, to protect the trapped rabbits from quandary lessened by a lack of constructive, planned investigation. molestation, and some were caught in the rabbit gins as well. Rather is it confused by the use of traditional techniques unfounded .Myxomatosis then put an end to the need for controlling rabbits as upon any basis of scientific reasoning. The best trappers, who know agricultural pests and also knocked the bottom out of the market for their animals and the country in which they live, have learned to flesh and skins. adapt their trapping techniques to changes in season, changes in environmental topography and changes in the response of animals pes! and Population Control which mature in an area subjected to heavy trapping programme% There is, of course, another side to this story. For years prior to the It is not a skill to be acquired without the tutelage of an experienced myxomatosis scourge, farmers had been battling against ever- master. increasing numbers of rabbits in Britain, and an average of no less than 40 millions a year were slaughtered between 1950 and 1953. AS ,El?ects upon Wildlife a result of the Ground Game Act of 1880, farmers had been made c&spite this lack of factual evidence either for or against the use of responsible for employing rabbit-catchers; but both farmersand animal traps, there is some information which can help to influene catchers, as well as commercial trappers hiring land from the public opinion. And here the first thing to consider is what effect farmers, looked to the rabbit for part of their annual income and so 248 250 Animal Traps and Trapping The Ethics of Trapping 251 did not for some time regard it as a pest to be eradicated corn- which had been held by snares for several days. Some of the finds pletely. Under the Pests Act of 1954, British farmers were empowered were apparently still alive but emaciated and injured from their to reduce rabbit-breeding areas as well as the animals; but at the struggles; those which were dead had not died quietly-or painlessly. same time a section of the Act made it illegal from 1 August 1958 to The correspondence produced a substantial amount of evidence use traps other than spring traps approved by the Ministry of Agri- confirming that incidents of these kinds were not isolated events. culture, Fisheries & Food. Yet in deface of those using snares in this way, if indeed a deface is Whether or not trapping is the best method for controlling pests possible, counter accusations were levelled against the methods of is difficult to establish, and of course, a great deal depends upon the fox-hunting societies. pests involved. Many people favour shooting for rabbits, ground Mole-trapping is another source of controversial discussion. In predators and bird pests, and this is reasonable providing first-class favour of eradicating moles are gardeners, parks directors and shots are used and one can afford the time to wait until subter- sportsground supervisors, as well as farmers resenting their under- ranean animals decide to surface. Traps do have the advantage of mining of land under crops. George Bolam, the author of Wild Life waiting for their catch to come along. The argument that they are in Wales, held largely opposite opinions and, while conceding their .~ non-selective compared with shooting is not wholly valid as, in the nuisance to arable farmers, considered that mole tunnels served as hands of a skilled trapper, a high degree of selectivity is possible with useful drainage channels. The farm pests eaten by moles were, he many kinds of traps, even the killers. Conversely, the writer has thought, fair compensation for the minor irritation of having hillocks recently had both a fox and a polecat brought to him, both shot and in pastures, and even the hillocks themselves had potential as a good bothmistaken, or so he was told, in the half-light of dawn, for rabbits. _ top dressing for grass when disturbed by grazing sheep. The writer’s own preference would be to achieve any necessary Again, mole-trapping-the old mole-trapper was called an ‘oont- population control of birds and mammals by means either of traps . catcher’--can be far more humane than gassing, the effect of which is or shooting, as opposed to the use of poisons. A good rifle-shot, live not necessarily limited to moles. trap or a humane-killing trap can be a 99 per cent guarantee against cruelty, whereas poisons are indiscriminate in~their effects and it is . The Voice of the People virtually impossible to guarantee a lethal dose. And the side effects of 1 In trapping, or for that matter in any other form of animal control, it sub-lethal doses can be horrible, especially in the case of avian is usually public agitation which results in legislation being even- poisons used in baits, since both birds and mammals can be affected , tually brought to bear on inhumane or unethical practices. In Britain, and predators and carrion-feeders are liable to suffer secondary the commission set to explore the incidence of cruelty to wild ani- poisoning. Use of poisoned baits under licence is still permitted in ,’ mals was very largely the product of continued representation from Britain by the Bird Protection Act of 1954. bodies such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), The use of mammal traps of the approved spring variety has been the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) subject to legal control in Britain since 1958, and a number of ’ and Women’s Institutes. Organisations like these need public sup- American states have also introduced legislation aimed at humani- _ port if their voice is to be sufficiently loud to attract the attention of tarian control over trapping. In Britain, the Spring Traps Order not government ministers and parliamentary representatives of all only regulates the traps that can be used and the animals which can ( political colours. be taken by them, but also requires trappers to inspect each trap Sometimes a public relations programme is valuable in drawing once during every period between sunrise and sunset if it is likely to attention to alternatives to cruel practices. A recent example of this catch a rabbit. was an exhibition featured by the Zoological Society of Montreal At the time of writing, a lengthy and furious exchange of letters which combined a display of the horrors connected with certain has been taking place in The Field on the subject of snaring foxes. ’ aspects of the fur trade and the humane alternative-the utilisation The letter which sparked off the series reported findings of foxes of art furs, now currently in vogue in North America. 252 Animal Traps and Trapping The Ethics of Trapping 253 The Fish and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the One recent example of the joint use of both traps and drugs con- Interior has published a number of pamphlets providing a fair cerned biologists working on the movements of Kodiak bears in amount of information for intending trappers.
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