Trapping hurts Montana's economy

Last year a 62-year-old Martin City woman was reduced to thrashing on the ground, covered with blood from her snapping, wounded dog while her 5- and 6-year old grandchildren looked on, crying in terror.

The family was out for a walk. Their dogs were both caught in foothold traps hidden within feet of the road the children were running on. The grandmother was trying free her 100-pound dog. She did, finally, with a superhuman effort. The incident was reported to Fish, Wildlife and Parks in November 2013. They told her the set traps complied with their rules. She was lucky. In the Bitterroot, two women whose dogs were both caught in traps (illegally set at a trail head) were arrested for disturbing traps, a crime, when they reported the maiming of their dogs. Trapping is a cruel, indiscriminate recreation which drains money from Montana businesses including ranching, tourism, logging and mining.

A problem for businesses is that trapping is too efficient. After the invention of metal traps in 1600 in Europe a wave of extinction of fur-bearing animals spread out, jumped the Atlantic, then crossed the North American continent. Mink, otter, beaver, lynx, fox and other furbearer populations were destroyed quickly on both continents. For Montana the extinction took place just a few decades after the Lewis and Clark expedition.

In 1841 the famous trapper Osborne Russell recorded in his journal: "The trappers often remarked to each other as they rode over these lonely plains that it was time for the white man to leave the mountains as beaver and game had nearly disappeared."

Montana was trapped out before it became a state. Without beaver ponds, creeks cut down, draining aquifers, changing Montana's landscape. Montana's legislature, along with sportsman's and conservation groups, have worked hard to repair the damage. They established our Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, which re-introduced endangered species and nurtured depleted game and furbearer populations by controlling hunting and trapping. Ranchers passed legislation to protect beaver in eastern Montana to restore ground water tables. Today we have much to thank them for.

Over the decades, however, the combination of depleted furbearer populations with weakened trapping regulations keeps some species close to extinction. Trapping hurts Montana businesses.

Animal populations on the brink of extinction from over-trapping (like wolverine, fisher and lynx) allow the federal government to limit Montana job-producing projects, including mining and logging, through the Endangered Species Act. This makes investment in Montana businesses uncertain. Ranching, big-game hunting, and fishing businesses are hurt.

Spring runoff, once diverted into the ground water by an estimated 250,000 beaver dams, now partly flows out of Montana causing:

• Loss of riparian habitat and wildlife.

• Lost late season creek flow. loss of uncountable springs statewide

• Tourism may be hurt the most. Each year wildlife watching, hunting, and fishing brings $2.7 billion dollars to Montana. How many more dollars would come if tourists had a real chance to see a wolverine, bobcat, or the vibrant wildlife around a beaver pond? Or how many fewer dollars will come when the headlines announce a child caught in a trap in Montana? It may happen soon.

Dogs are frequently caught near trailheads and along trails. Even trappers report that their dogs (and they, themselves) are caught in traps. Montanans should again take responsibility. Signatures for an initiative to stop recreational/commercial trapping on public lands are being gathered across Montana by volunteers for Montanans with Trap Free Montana Public Lands. This initiative allows trapping for traditional public health and safety activities, and for nuisance and conflict animal problems when non lethal methods fail.

The initiative does not affect the 65 percent of Montana lands which are private. Trap Free Montana Public Lands volunteer signature gatherers include wildlife biologists, wetlands scientists, doctors, hunters, fishermen, ranchers, veterans, horsemen, and former trappers from across the state. Trap Free Montana Public Lands supports hunting and fishing, each a fair chase sport.

Please join in. http://www.trapfreemt.org, or https://www.facebook.com/trapfreemt.org

(Tom Gignoux lives in Missoula where he is an active opponent of trapping.)