Photo courtesy the Missouri Department of Conservation
by Aubrey Weaver, for Community News Service
When it was introduced in the Legislature last year, a bill called S.201 proposed prohibiting the use of leg-hold traps in Vermont — rigs with metal pressure plates that, when stepped on, trigger spring-loaded claws to ensnare an animal’s leg. That was in its name and goals, as introduced by Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor.
But by the time lawmakers passed the bill that session, it had been altered unrecognizably through amendments. Leg-hold traps weren’t banned, and the bill’s name and purpose were revised entirely.
Act 159 of 2022 instead only required the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife to establish “best management practices” for recreational (commonly called furbearer) trapping, send them to legislators this past January and enact rules by January 2024.
Now, in the interim, some legislators and animal protection groups are incensed by what they view as the department’s slow progress on, and lacking proposals for, trapping regulations.
“This entire year, we have been working on providing recommendations to the Fish and Wildlife department and board on how we think these traps could be made better than they are currently,” said Brenna Angelillo-Galdenzi, president and co-founder of the group Protect Our Wildlife Vermont. “Unfortunately the Fish and Wildlife department and the (fish and wildlife) board has ignored most of our recommendations.”
“So we’re currently fighting Fish and Wildlife recommendations because we feel that they’re grossly insufficient,” Angelillo-Galdenzi said.
One of the primary complaints with the “best management practices” put forward by the department this year is that there’s no prohibition on leg-hold traps like the initial intention of S.201. The proposals continue to allow recreational trapping, though under stricter circumstances, something Protect Our Wildlife Vermont also opposes.
This past legislative session, Rep. Larry Satcowitz, D-Randolph, introduced H.191, which sought to prohibit recreational trapping by requiring people to obtain a license to trap only nuisance animals, but that bill never left committee.
“Furbearer trapping is inhumane,” said Satcowitz, an outspoken proponent of trapping reform, in an email. “The animals that are caught suffer immensely. If you were to intentionally cause such pain to a dog you would be in violation of Vermont’s animal cruelty law.”
Satcowitz acknowledged that “some trapping in defense of property is probably unavoidable,” which is represented by the nuisance trapping license the bill proposed.
“But otherwise,” said Satcowitz, “furbearer trapping has no good reason to be practiced other than for the enjoyment of a small number of people.”
Satcowitz commended the knowledge and capability of the Fish and Wildlife department but said he too would “like to see them pay more attention to how perspectives around these issues have been evolving in recent years.”
Two heated public comment meetings held by the department in June demonstrated perspectives ranging from calling the best practice proposals an attack on “individualism” to characterizing them as “inhumane.”
Brehan Furfey, a wildlife biologist and the furbearer project lead for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, explained that the department tries to accommodate all public opinions — which necessarily means compromises must be made.
“We try to stick as closely as possible to what the Legislature had mandated and has required of us,” Furfey said. “So, we do read every single comment. We respond to all the comments. And so it’s a balancing act, and we try to do the best we can.”
Trapping is a difficult topic for the department to address, said Furfey, because it tends to elicit “ very extreme views in one way or another. And so we really try to incorporate everybody’s perspective and, you know, meet in the middle.”
Asked about the humanity of trapping practices, Furfey said the department has been working to address complaints. “So, we’ve done a lot to improve trapping — what’s legal or what will hopefully be legal in Vermont. So it’s just to reduce that incidental take and that risk and just improve overall selectivity and safety.”
The department allows trapping for two reasons, said Furfey. “Our funding comes from allowing wildlife management areas to be open to the public for recreational use. And so we allow trapping on wildlife management areas and public land. People have the right to trap on their own lands.”
The other reason, said Furfey, relates to “damage control.”
“If people are having issues with raccoons or coyotes or anything like that, there are people who are licensed in the state to go and remove the issue, if that’s what people want to do,” she said. Trapping, she clarified, is allowed on all public land and private land at the permission of the property owner.
A common complaint with recreational trapping, especially on public land, is the risk to domestic pets. In 2022, an East Corinth woman lost her dog to a trap out on a walk and brought the story to the news. The trap, set on private land, was likely illegal.
David Sausville, the Fish and Wildlife department’s wildlife management program manager, said the agency receives “very few reports” of pets being ensnared by traps. As for the safety of people, especially children, he said: “We’ve had zero reports of somebody being caught in a trap because of where the trappers placed them.”
For Protect our Wildlife Vermont and Satcowitz, the fight to prohibit certain types of trapping lives on. “We’re going to go back to the Legislature in January, asking them to ban (leg-hold) traps again,” said Angelillo-Galdenzi.
Satcowitz is “optimistic” his bill to prohibit recreational trapping will be passed next session. “I’m finding a great deal of support for it,” said Satcowitz.
Categories: Outdoors
Another example of people moving into the state telling us how to live because we don’t know how. Just like our schools telling us what’s best for our children. I wish these controlling people would just leave the state if their so unhappy with it and go where the world bends over to their will and leave us in peace but they won’t because of their giant egos!
The debate & controversy with regard to trapping is not exclusive to Vermont but exists in every single state within the USA as well as worldwide. Trapping has been controversial on a number of counts for decades and according to a poll conducted in part by Fish & Game, nearly two-thirds of residents in VT find trapping objectionable – which means that according to a previous post – two-thirds of all those who reside in Vermont are thereby “irrational zealots”. Then, once you include all the leftists in the VT legislature who are, IMO, much more clearly “irrational zealots”, the vast majority of the population of Burlington proper, every single person who lives here now that once lived elsewhere (which is also likely the majority of those within the state as a whole), most of the college students who live here for several years and the many medical professionals at UVM who likely aren’t aficionados of trapping, adding in the animal rights & humane organization members and….whew……
All you end up with are possibly a couple of hundred trapping enthusiasts actively engaging in the practice – comprising potentially up to 2 or 3%% of the entire populace, who, according to the previous poster are the sole individuals within the State of VT who are:
1.) Rational
2.) Non-Militants
Got it!
I must be stroking out because I see the words but I don’t understand a thing you said here. Are you for or against trapping? I have a family of skunks and a raccoon in my backyard, all of whom I love like my own children (maybe better than).
Try re-reading the string of comments, as my opinion & statements are clearer than day, but good for you in terms of your furry friends! And not to be rude or disrespectful to your offspring, but you musta raised some rather disagreeable youngsters since you prefer your backyard skunk over them. As a poster on here recently suggested to me……”Do Better”!
These liberal whine azz’es, that call any kind of outdoor activity and taking any
fur-bearing animals is inhumane……
These are the same hypocrites that flatten animals every day with their autos,
but that’s different……….. do they stop and make sure the animal is dead, or do
they just keep driving, you know the answer !!
These bleeding heart hypocrites need to go back to where they came from, real Vermonters don’t need their help maintaining our fish & game endeavors.
Did you know that mammals and birds in NYC and its surrounding suburbs are trapped, poisoned, and clubbed to death regularly? There are clubs for dog owners to hunt these mammals on the streets. The poisons left around endanger beloved pets. And the anti trapper campaigners say nothing. They ignore the studies that show mammals have the same maternal feelings as humans. They ignore that these mammals also experience fear, pain and misery. They even ignore that the offspring of these animals are trampled underfoot and if a dog should catch and kill a pregnant female the hunters regard this as a great prize.
The birds are poisoned, trapped, their nests removed and destroyed. They even deploy birds of prey to kill them mercilessly.
Anti-trapping campaigners really should consider returning to NYC or whatever urban area they are from. They are needed there to save these poor mammals and birds. Their studies and the obvious popularity of their opinion should be enough to save these poor creatures. I’m sure many here in Vermont would love to contribute to their campaigns to save rats and pigeons.
Since I’m not an anti-trapping “campaigner” (not even certain of exactly what that is) and never lived in NYC or an urban area or city, I have no knowledge of whether what you have stated is accurate or is not.
But as far as your utterly ridiculous “us vs. them” mentality, the only NATIVE Vermonters in this state are not those who came here from “away” or other “foreign” (lol) states at some point such as CT, MA, NY (portions of southern Vermont were actually once considered part of VT; early records from Pownal are housed in NYS record’s department) but in fact only indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of this region.
Then there’s that pesky US Constitution and its Amendments (last I checked, Vermont was one of the 50 states) that guarantee every US citizen the right to travel and take up homesteads anywhere within the country or its territories. Add to THAT the fact that so many folks born here willingly decide themselves to relocate to other states as millions of Americans so often do – and I certainly HOPE that no one THERE is giving them the mistaken impression that THEY are not welcome or don’t “belong” in their own newer state of residence…..hope you don’t have or know of ANY young Vermonters who have attended college out-of-state & decided to stay or sought employment opportunities outside the Green Mt. State or are raising a family away from where they were once raised……how utterly “shameful”?
Insofar as ANY animals being abused by ANY methods by ANY individuals, I fully concur that such abuse is inherently wrong, which is precisely why I am of the opinion, as the majority of people obviously are, that trapping is abusive, cruel, and barbaric. Does chronically repeating any or all of this time and again change either my opinion or the general public’s opinion on the topic?
Lastly, if being born in any particular state is one’s claim to fame, so to speak, I’d recommend instead volunteering for a charitable cause or joining a church group or maybe taking up an instrument & forming a band. Being born in NY, VT, or anywhere else in these US States and proclaiming the random event somehow makes your existence “special” is somewhat irrational itself.
Oh, and by the way, I’m hardly a liberal as hundreds of past VDC comments will attest to. Sorry, but lots o’ born & raised in Vermont folk AND conservatives in VT don’t much like trappin’, Opey. Hence, I included the source where you might easily locate the VT Department of Fish & Wildlife survey for your reading pleasure.
Yes I was born in the state as were many of my generations before me. I do not claim fame for this fact but your post just proved my point about people moving here and then changing the laws of the state to suite their own purpose. You are also probably right that there are too few left in the state that were born here that do understand my comment but I still have a right to express my thoughts on issues contrary to yours.
Well, I again hope that “native” Vermonters adult children who have moved out of VT and into various different states to raise their families or attain high-paying jobs aren’t being ostracized or repudiated in their new regions, as Vermonters appear to love to do here.
Further, I’m not involved personally with any movement to ban trapping though should I ever choose to in the future, I shall without hesitation, as (for the THIRD time now) approximately two-thirds of Vermont residents oppose trapping according to the study I cited. That’s life, and my opinion, and nothing shall prevent me from stating my opinion. Trapping is controversial in ALL 50 states & is disliked by many. I guess to the trappers? Keep trapping while it’s legal and deal with the fact that MOST of your fellow Americans don’t appreciate what you do…..you know, like “big boys” ought to do.
Shall we go ’round yet again?
Remember surveys are like polls unless they are given to everyone the numbers can lie.
Not by that margin, Betty. Polls have a margin of error of between three to five percent. In addition, this poll was organized by VT Dept of F & W – which are advocates of trapping, therefore if the results were skewed – they were skewed in favor of trapping, not against it. Two-thirds opposed, one-third was in favor.
Part of being a respected and popular person, especially when traveling or relocating, is learning to appreciate the history of deep seated traditions you’re not familiar with. Such has been my experience encountering roasted puppy in Korea, and eating a live lobster in Taiwan. Insulting your host of neighbors with accusations of inferior evolvement is telling of shallow character.
Well according to your sentiment then, the practice of holding African-Americans as slaves ought to be allowed to continue, is that correct? If you appreciate deep-seated traditions, that was one that existed for over a century. How about the tradition of not allowing women to vote or to legally own property – long-held traditions in the USA & one of which continued well into the 20th century. Sorry, but killing non-targeted species, (here we go again for now the eighth time), placing people’s companion animals in peril, and trapping & lethally injuring protected species isn’t a good enough reason to continue your “tradition”. And I never mentioned either “inferior evolvement” nor “leghold traps” – but for the thirteenth time, it is my unflagging opinion that trapping is inhumane, dangerous, kills non-targeted & protected species and is cruel. Fourteenth? I mean, you all are merely providing me with numerous platforms for me to reiterate my points, but OK(?)
The very fact that you are proud to describe your “experience” of consuming a companion animal is more than repugnant but explains how you obviously hold nor express no remorse or sadness for the two Vermont women who in 2022 lost their pet dogs to hunters’ traps. These, the very same sentient & intelligent animals that have served and given their God-given lives in service to man in the US military, to law enforcement agencies, and to the disabled – for hundreds of years here in the USA & for thousands of years over the eras worldwide. Your lack of humanity, compassion, and decency is remarkable – all to “appreciate” a third world nation’s disgraceful “tradition” in exterminating the life of innocent & defenseless canines & felines – a practice that the vast majority of industrialized, advanced countries that are fighting unabatedly to have this disgusting practice stooped. Oh, and don’t forget to try the (now extinct, thanks to poaching) endangered Rhino horn that treats E.D.!
protectourwildlifevt. Never heard of them before, but after the abject lack of tolerance of my opinion, and especially after learning of one of members of the VT hunting cartel bragging about the “tradition” of consuming companion animals outside of the US, I’m joining first thing in the AM. Thank you for your impromptu recommendation!
Why wait for an international va-ca to South Korea or Communist China, as “lovely” as they are? Surely some of your friends (if you have any) or neighbors own dogs as companions, correct?
CALL THE TRAP “ABORTION DEVICE”,THEN, NO PROBLEM
By whom? If you had EVER read my past posts or EVER been on this site commenting, you would know full well that I’m Pro-Life. Nice try….but in all actuality pretty lame.
Next go ’round!
Despite any statement made to the contrary, there will always be a need to trap certain types of Rodents. The “crime” being hyped is that this is being done only for “recreational” purposes, and that is the heinous activity that must cease as only a minority actually participates in it.
Polls are tricky because much depends on how a question is phrased, and much depends on where the responder lives and what their life experiences are.
Okay, and setting aside the Rights of the Indigenous peoples of Vermont and their views (another minority), let’s assume that “recreational” trapping is stopped.
What replaces that – “nuisance” trapping – which already exists.
The proposed statute (H.191) itself states that fees are expected to be charged, so what was “recreational” becomes “commercial”, and what today might be done by a willing trapper for little cost or even free, will now cost money.
Trapping is the most effective way of dealing with problem rodents – ask any homeowner who has dealt with mice or rats – or nutria like other parts of the country.
Yeah. Stop “recreational” trapping; create “Commercialized Nuisance” trapping instead.
Hmm. Is hunting or fishing “recreational”?
First they came for the traps, but I remained silent…
Oh my….equating opposition to trapping with installing Marxism….now that’s a stretch. To the vast majority of the population at least.
I support and believe in professional wildlife management. Disneyesque activism, not so much.
Well, you’re in the minority as I stated, Pat – which is fine. Two-thirds of all Vermonters oppose trapping. And my opinion, which just happens to fall in line with most of your neighbors, isn’t activism. It’s my opinion. Trapping is cruel, barbaric, and kills THOUSANDS of non-targeted species, including endangered species, every year. However, with all the baseless accusations of my being an activist anti-trapper, I do believe I’ll join the groups involved at this point. Thanks for the good idea!
First of all, they’re called foothold traps NOT legholds, that is a term used by antis. I have put my fingers in a foothold trap in size ranges from mink to fox, yes it smarts a bit and will go numb eventually. I have come upon animals (fox and fisher) caught in a foothold and found them curled up sleeping. I have released fishers on 3 separate occasions, because they were out of season (caught in a set intended for fox). I did the right thing, could have taken the fishers early and no one would have been the wiser, instead I followed the law. I once had one of my hens get caught in a fox set near the chicken yard, someone let the hens out before I had gone out to disarm the trap. She was literally caught by her neck (pecking the dirt and triggered the trap). I don’t know how long she was in the trap, a few minutes at least. She lived and had what appeared to be signs of stroke for a week or so, but fully recovered. What ultimately killed her was a mink, which are a persistent problem, no matter how much care one takes to shield from them. It didn’t kill just one chicken, but all of them like the blood thirsty little critters they are. Well I took care of him, and will continue deal with nuisance predators without anyone’s permission. Trapping is low hanging fruit to the abolitionists, then hunting, then fishing, then domestic meat…they won’t stop, just like the treasonous vermin who are daily attempting to curtail all of our rights and freedoms, most notably our 1st & 2nd amendment rights!!!
Well Jonathan, as I just mentioned to another one of your trapping comrades who are as intolerant to others’ opinions on this barbaric & inhumane practice – I’ve oddly never noticed your “handle” on VDC before – and you’re both making laughing stocks of yourselves by proclaiming that I’m a “leftist” & “treasonous whilst if you had taken the time to read over a year of past posts on here – as opposed to automatically rushing to the “aid” of your fellow good ol’ boys on VDC who so obviously desperately needed your help in taking on one lone woman who DARED to oppose your collective point of view (ordinarily referred to as: FREEDOM of SPEECH), you would have known that I hold no leftist views, am vehemently Pro-Life, and I’m not engaged in treasonous activities (lol) – with the aforementioned exception of your considering my exercising MY 1st amendment right – right on this site which I shall NOT cease from doing no matter how many oppose me. Realize that your feeble attempts to silence me or seek to “intimidate” me do NOTHING of the sort. I will continue to rail against trapping, speak my mind under ALL circumstances, and be intimidated by…..(let me think……NO ONE. As far as your one purported story about one of your hens being caught in a trap and recovering, try a perusal on the internet with regard to the two beloved pet dogs (aforementioned by me in a past trapping article re: trapping only recently on VDC) who were killed in cold blood directly in the presence of their female owners right here in VERMONT in 2022. Or, how about my reference on that same page to the article published by Nat Geo that informed readers that THOUSANDS of non-targeted species are killed annually in traps set throughout the USA? Or how about (for the SIXTH time being mentioned now) about the survey taken by VT F & W that discovered that nearly two-thirds of Vermonters OPPOSE your lovely sport? Therefore, for the TWELVE time, I state that trapping is:
1.) Barbaric & dangerous
2.) Is opposed by the majority of Vermonters
3.) kills thousands of non-targeted species annually
4.) Killed two pet dogs in 2022 in front of their owners along with countless cats
Go ’round yet again to state the EXACT same statements? I’m game. Next!
Just a handful of organizations that MILLIONS are affiliated with to end the disgusting, heartless trade in dog “meat”:
HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (Most Prominent in the World)
SOI DOG FOUNDATION (WITHIN ALL ASIAN COUNTRIES)
ANIMALS ASIA (WITHIN ALL OF ASIA AS WELL)
CHANGE FOR ANIMALS INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION
ANIMAL RIGHTS ON EARTH (based specifically in South Korea)
Fortunately, what goes around, comes around for anyone who participates in abuses, torturing, & inflicting severe agony on God’s creations & creatures & young innocents under the guise of “tradition”.
Guy will surely being publishing more on trapping in the near future, thanks to success VDC achieves in terms of additional readership which unintentionally leads to my having a “free” platform to express my anti-trapping views. Therefore, why not wait to continue to repetitively pen the exact same sentiments ad nauseum next time around? And remember….it takes at least eight of you to attempt to rebuke just me! Quite a compliment. Thank you all.
Nighty-night, see you (likely) later this week. It’s become “tradition”!
Kathleen, first off my “handle” is NOT new, I’ve been here for quite some time a couple of years now I believe. Second, I never called you a leftist or treasonous, I used the term “treasonous vermin” as direct reference to our so called representatives in Montpelier. I never even used the term leftist, you inserted that word. I also made reference to “abolitionists” that would the folks at PETA and POW to mention just two, neither of which do I have any idea if you are affiliated with nor did I imply anything about you personally. As to the tragic deaths of the two dogs, I’m well aware of those incidents. Not having personal investigative knowledge of the incidents I cannot say for sure, but I would wager that both traps were illegally set. Any body grip trap large enough to ensnare a dog must be set (by law) either underwater or at least 5 feet off the ground, that would exclude a dog from getting into it. I know you quite well from your regular comments on VDC, as with yours and others I usually just keep walking, every now and then I do express my opinion. I do this not so much as to convince someone of anything, but rather to offer another perspective for consideration. I have gathered that you are more conservative than not, possibly Christian albeit an angry one, and very passionate about animals and their welfare. There are a lot of practices today that can be described as barbaric, sadly because of the incident in the garden of Eden, something innocent immediately had to die so Adam & Eve could be covered, it all started with our disobedience. Now here we are, many of us eating animals to survive, was that G_D’s original intention? No, but here we are. I have stated before elsewhere and I’ll repeat: unless someone is an ABSOLUTE vegan, no animal products for food, no leather, does not “forcibly” keep animals or insects for food (such as laying hens or honeybees), does not trap or poison rodents, no fly swatters. They shouldn’t drive either, that kills insects and small animals. Then they shouldn’t make judgments about how another lives and interacts with nature, otherwise you are rationalizing your accepted form of killing while condemning another…it’s really that simple. The exception being killing babies in the womb, which are created in G_D’s image. It might interest you to know that I’m not some demented animal torturer, I live very circumspectly as to my relationship with all living things. I raise much of my own meat, I give them a good life right to the last day, it is very sobering to butcher your own meat, perhaps if more raised their own meat people might not be so flippant about consuming meat that they’ve never seen alive. My hens get a good long life, I do not force them with lights, which means they take time off in the winter and ultimately just retire until they die of old age. I have pets, dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, I’ve raised dairy goats and kept a buck goat with a companion so he wouldn’t be alone, I’ve cared for ailing chickens, I’m not what you call very efficient, it costs more than just buying it in the store with no clue as to what kind of a life your dinner had. I would ask you to not be so rash in assuming something about someone, I for my part never made any direct criticism of you personally. I did criticize those in our legislature and made reference to animal groups in general.
For someone who claims to post on VDC with some regularity, I have to state that if that were accurate, you and all the others who have followed the proverbial “dog whistle” to jump onto VDC in order to rail against one lone woman who possesses the gumption and the continued tenacity to state her vehement objections to trapping – which I have every right to do and which I shall continue to do so long as there remains a platform here on VDC to do so and so long as hordes of mostly men seem to believe that through such juvenile tactics of name-calling and demeaning & dismissive comments to which, I readily admit, I sometimes respond in-kind. Secondly, I will argue that I’m not making judgments against you personally, but I have every right to make judgments against the act or “sport” of trapping, which I freely have, as I (yet once again) contend that I – as well as millions of others across this nation, as evidenced clearly by the statistics and the data which I have presented in previous posts and which you may easily local by perusing any/all articles on VDC with regard to trapping, is again, in my opinion, inhumane, kills unintended or non-targeted species such as domestic dogs & cats as well as other non-targeted species including those categorized by the US federal government as “protected”. These last assertions can also be clearly evidenced by the aforementioned stats/data I included in previous posts should you care to fact-check them. In conclusion, I, therefore, hold steadfast to my opinion, and likely always shall, that trapping is injurious if not fatal to many species, causes great suffering and fear prior to death, and is not necessary as other methods of animal control abound and have for decades (see again past posting re: options to trapping as I prefer to not continue to endlessly repeat information/facts/data/stats which I have already presented & substantiated.
Indeed I am a conservative despite the ludicrous remarks asserted by your trapping associates who very hastily, and without any basis, assumed that I must be a wide-eyed liberal in order to hold anti-trapping sentiments; however, those are the types of ignorant comments one must expect to be presented with when commenters are merely responding to their call to wage war or the previously described dog whistle that rallied the troops to descend upon VDC. Insofar as your further accusations as to my being an “angry” Christian, I respond that many Christians are as well and if not – well ought to be with close to one million innocent baby lives being cruelly exterminated in utero and the now weaponized FBI within this purportedly “free” nation that guarantees freedom of religion being subjected to being termed “terrorists” for their religious affiliations and beliefs. In the end, I’m somewhat relieved to hear that as opposed to one of your associates (I use the term loosely to describe the small mass of trappers who descended upon VDC who otherwise rarely, if ever, post any commentary except when obviously directed to) who discussed his pleasure in adhering to “tradition” in consuming a puppy – an unquestioningly vile act which ALL mainstream animal rights & animal welfare organization are overwhelmingly & vehemently fighting to end – by posting your otherwise general positive regard and treatment of animals whom we share God’s earth with. In closing, I agree that the level of civility in this string of posts very quickly devolved, though if you care to go back to my original & initial posts concerning my personal objection to trapping – I certainly was not the one who proceeded down that road first but instead presented my free opinion alongside the ascribed data/published articles/survey, etc. which I included in those earlier posts. In the end, I remain a meat eater myself which I have also made very clear in previous writings but remain opposed to trapping for each and all of the reasons that have been posted repetitively, as do the majority here in VT as well as the majority across these 50 states as per polling collected. I currently do not belong to any animal rights organization though I do not preclude the possibility of joining one depending upon their specific mission statement and goals and I remain committed as always to freedom of speech for ALL and hope to see individuals with disparate views learn to express them without them devolving into incivility and juvenile tactics in the hope of either tempering or silencing the opposition which often is largely unsuccessful – especially in cases when dealing with individuals originally from Queens, NY: whether it be President Donald Trump or just me.
For the record, I never claimed to post regularly, I did say that more often than not l read but didn’t post. This string is kind of a case in point as why I don’t: too frequently misunderstood. That is why I walked away from Facebook 2 & 1/2 years ago. I have no direction from anyone as to jumping in a collaborative effort to demean you or anyone else opposed to trapping. I haven’t trapped for years and do not actively associate with other trappers. I do trap for nuisance predators in defense of my property and will continue to do so as needed. When it comes to mink it is the ONLY way to control them. They are constantly trying to find new entry points into my chicken coop and yard. I have designed and built a box for a body grip trap that excludes an accidental catch of a cat. Personally, I think that it doesn’t get much more barbaric than for a mink to lock onto the back of a chicken’s neck and hold it until it bleeds out while the others look on in horror, as the mink systematically kills them one by one only to leave their uneaten carcasses but for a few nibbles. Why are animals allowed full permission to hunt, terrorize and kill other animals, but not humans? I believe in giving everything a good death, but there are limits to my patience. Hence the last mink made the mistake of returning to the scene of the crime (having killed 8 chickens) only to find no escape when the door was closed when discovered inside (broad daylight). That became a cage fight, I asked to be locked in the coop until I was finished. With welding gloves I caught it with my hands and killed it with my hands…and you know what? No remorse. I’m not jumping on you, I’m not attempting to quash your speech, but mine wont be quashed either and I won’t be jumped upon. There will be a price to pay for the millions of unborn babies murdered, G_D is not mocked, vengeance is His, He will repay. Yes, there is a time to be angry, and that genocide is worth being angry over. But people will not be drawn to G_D if all they see is angry Christians going off about everything. We need to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. You and I will not agree on this topic, and that is fine. The world is ugly, has been since the fall and will be until all things are restored. You are following your convictions, I’m living as circumspectly as I can. I originally was trying correct some terminology regarding a certain type of trap and share some of my perspective, it may not have been welcome. In future you can know that I’m here, but usually just taking it in and not jumping in.