Why are these deadly traps still allowed in wildlife refuges?
Why are these deadly traps still allowed in our national wildlife refuges?
Wildlife refuges are meant to be safe havens.
A refuge is meant to be a haven, a place for visitors to enjoy and wildlife to thrive. But in nearly half of our country’s wildlife refuges, pets, people and wildlife alike are all in danger of stepping into a painful — or deadly — body-gripping trap.1
We should be able to visit wildlife refuges without fear that we, our pets, or the wildlife we’ve come to visit will be injured by snares, steel-jawed leghold traps, and other body-gripping traps.
Right now, we have the chance to pass a bill that will ban the use of body-gripping traps in our national wildlife refuges — but your U.S. representative needs to hear from you.
These indiscriminate traps pose a threat to endangered wildlife.
Body-gripping traps are dangerous because they’re indiscriminate: Anything that touches one can be injured or killed.
Even our most endangered wildlife isn’t safe from traps like these. There are less than 200 Mexican gray wolves left in the American Southwest — but since 2002, at least 38 lobos have been caught in traps in New Mexico alone. Some of these wolves were injured or needed a leg amputation after their capture, and five of them died.2
The wild spaces we share with wolves and other wildlife are no place for devices that can harm and kill people and animals alike.
Take action to support the Refuge From Cruel Trapping Act.
Right now we have a great chance to make national wildlife refuges safe havens for wildlife, hikers and pets — as they should be. Public lands belong to each and every one of us, and we should be able to enjoy them safely.
We’re still working on banning deadly “cyanide bombs” that poison wildlife, and putting an end to devastating wolf hunts — but passing the Refuge From Cruel Trapping Act is something we can accomplish right now that will make a big difference for wildlife.
- “Nadler & Blumenauer Introduce the Refuge from Cruel Trapping Act,” Congressman Jerry Nadler, July 27, 2021.
- Rebecca Moss, “Wildlife advocates say traps harm Mexican gray wolf recovery efforts in New Mexico,” Santa Fe New Mexican, February 12, 2019.