A new bill, H.191, gives Vermont legislators the opportunity to banish the cruel and widely despised practice of recreational trapping from our state.
Steel-jaw leghold traps cause gruesome injuries, prolonged agony, and death for an untold number of wild and domestic animals in Vermont.
Trapped animals may die of blood loss, dehydration, hypothermia, or predation, or may chew or twist off a limb, paw or digit to escape. Traps also drown animals, a particularly inhumane and horrifying death for river otters and beavers who can hold their breath for eight minutes or more.
Body-gripping traps are designed to kill quickly when two rotating jaws close on an animal's neck or chest but often just slam onto the animal's abdomen or other body part and cause unimaginable suffering.