“Some people think trappers don’t care about wildlife,’’ says Warner. “It was my love for it that took me into this career. I don’t want to see anything suffer.’’
Over the next few months, tens of thousands of trappers nationwide will fan out through the backcountry. But of all the entrenched outdoor pursuits in America, it’s hard to think of any that are more polarizing than the one that unfolds every trapping season.
For proponents, the season is a treasured tradition evoking America’s frontier heritage. Trappers consider their quarry a renewable resource and depict themselves as front-line conservationists playing a vital role in wildlife management.
Opponents of trapping see a different picture — pervasive cruelty inflicted on millions of animals each year, largely to help supply domestic and overseas markets for fur.
“Commercial fur trapping dates back to the early 1600s and has hardly changed,’’ says Adam Roberts, executive vice president of Born Free USA. He calls trapping “horrific, highly unregulated, inhumane and dangerous.’’
Born Free and other animal-advocacy groups have been campaigning for decades to ban certain types of traps. Earlier this year, Born Free conducted an undercover investigation of trapping in Pennsylvania, and cited its allegations of cruel and abusive practices to petition the game commission for tougher regulations. The petition was unanimously rejected on Oct. 4.
Foes of trapping have scored victories in a few other states, and have caused many trappers to feel under siege, but overall there’s been strong support for trapping in both Congress and state legislatures. In at least five states — Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Arkansas — the right to trap has been explicitly enshrined in the state constitution.
“Wildlife management should be left in hands of professionals,’’ says Dave Linkhart, a farmer and trapper from Xenia, Ohio, who is a spokesman for the National Trappers Association.
