“If New Mexico had a referendum, trapping would be gone.”– Dutch Salmon [former NM Game Commissioner and hunter], Las Cruces Sun-News, 5/29/11
In January, the New Mexico Game Commission—the independent body appointed by the Governor to manage wildlife policy—announced that the state “furbearer” harvest rules are up for review for the first time since 2006. The furbearer rules dictate what animals may legally be trapped or otherwise hunted for their fur, the trapping seasons, and where traps may be placed on the landscape. Currently, trapping is legal on all public wild lands—including US Forest Service, BLM, and State Trust lands—in New Mexico.
More on trapping in New Mexico
here.
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Body-gripping traps are a threat to people, companion animals, and wildlife. |
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In spite of—or perhaps because of—the public opinion related above by former Game Commissioner Salmon (both Colorado and Arizona banned public lands trapping in the mid-1990s via ballot initiative) as well as a
poll that shows 63% of New Mexicans want trapping restricted or banned, the Game Commission has decided to hold an important public hearing on trapping reform in a remote part of the state. The July 21 meeting of the Commission, where a
vote on the furbearer rule will occur, will take place in Clayton, NM. By locating the meeting in a county of 4000 bordered by Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas, the Commission has made its rulemaking essentially inaccessible to the vast majority of New Mexicans.
The Commission will also be voting on a key component of trapping reform: extending or dismissing the ban on leghold traps in Mexican wolf habitat of the Gila National Forest. Last July, Governor Richardson issued an Executive Order to temporarily halt trapping in wolf country—at least 14 wolves have been injured by traps since 2002—and to direct a study by NM Department of Game & Fish (NMDGF) and US Geological Survey on trapping practices to minimize risk to endangered wolves. Though the study was completed on May 23, US Geological Survey placed a hold on publication and the study has not been made available to the public. Stunningly, NMDGF has gone ahead and issued a
recommendation to the Game Commission to dismiss the trap ban in the Gila without any public review or explanation of what the paper concluded.
In the wake of these events, citizens need to challenge the Commission’s and the NMDGF’s apparent defiance of the public’s stakeholder right to transparency and representation in wildlife management.
Rally for Mexican gray wolves at the 6/9/11 Game Commission meeting in Las Cruces.
APNM, along with WildEarth Guardians, Sierra Club and Born Free USA, is working to raise awareness of the threats of cruel leghold traps to the public, companion animals, wildlife, and ecosystems. Together, we have launched
TrapFreeNM.org, a new website that will serve as an important resource to citizens who want to see a ban on public lands trapping. Through outreach and educational effort by these organizations and other citizen advocates, thousands of emails and signatures on a
trapping petition have been sent to the Game Commission in support of banning traps on public lands.
Please contact the Game Commission before July 18th to add your comments about the issues at stake at the upcoming meeting:
- Leghold trapping is cruel, outdated, and dangerous and should be restricted on public lands for the sake of residents, outdoor recreationists, companion animals, and wildlife. Enact the alternative Trapping and Furbearers Rule as presented by NMDGF.
- The trapping ban in the Gila National Forest is critical for the sake of raising the population of endangered wolves. The public has the right to review the mandated study on trapping before the Game Commission makes decisions about trapping.
Don’t let an inconvenient hearing location silence your voice. Let the Game Commission hear why you want these needlessly cruel devices banned on your public lands!
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