Why Do People Trap

The purpose of trapping is primarily to make money by selling the fur. Some trappers say it is a way to be out in nature and is a wholesome family activity they engage in with their children. But when fur prices are low, trapping activity declines dramatically. And when fur prices go up, trapping activity correspondingly increases. The main reason is money.

Trappers argue that trapping is needed to control wildlife disease. There is very little to substantiate this. In the absence of trapping during low pelt price years, diseases continue to be present and wildlife populations continue to survive them. In fact, it is more likely that a healthy animal will be attracted to a trap and killed than a diseased one, leaving the sick and killing the more fit.

Trappers say that they control predators for ranchers. But it is arguable that coyotes are as numerous now as ever. (It is illegal to trap and keep larger predators such as lions and bears in NM.) Happily, this “control” hasn’t exterminated coyotes as it has wolves. But is also arguable that constantly removing coyotes from a population causes the social structure to be disrupted, resulting in animals breeding that would not do so otherwise. Thus killing them constantly actually creates more coyotes in the short term. Moreover, livestock losses to predation are much lower than ranchers would have you believe. In fact, vastly more livestock die from bad weather, disease and birthing problems than native predators.

Predator numbers are in fact “controlled” by the available food. In the case of almost all of the furbearers, this would be rodents and rabbits. Mice, rats and rabbits require predation in order for ecosystems to remain balanced. These small herbivores have a prodigious reproductive rate and can consume, to a damaging degree, livestock and wildlife forage and farm crops and also carry diseases that are deadly to people. Every county in NM has bubonic plague and Hanta Virus.

Trappers also argue that while trapping in the past could harm wildlife numbers, now it is “regulated” so that furbearers are protected. However, there are no bag limits, no limit to the number of traps than can be set out and the seasons go on for months. In practice, there are no regulations that protect furbearers from over-exploitation.

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