YOUR VOICE NEEDED!
Are you a Sierra Club member? If so, we need you to speak up in support of a far-reaching policy regarding wildlife trapping.
BACKGROUND: In response to a request made by many concerned Sierra Club wildlife advocates and chapter leaders, the Sierra Club Board appointed a six member national task force comprised of experts (on which Project Coyote’s Camilla Fox and Dr. Paul Paquet have served) to draft a proposed policy regarding wildlife trapping. Over an 18- month period the task force developed a detailed trapping policy and supporting reports, which were ultimately distilled by the Sierra Club Board to the language below. This draft policy is now posted on the SC’s website for a 60 day comment period for SC members.
JUSTIFICATION: Sierra Club (SC) Chapter Wildlife leaders requested a clear policy on trapping from the SC Board so that they could better respond to wildlife management practices in their states. Because of the inadequacy of many state trapping laws and regulations to mitigate animal pain and suffering caused by body-gripping traps, SC Chapters and Groups need a strong national policy to provide clear guidance. Local Sierra Club groups need such a policy so that they can advocate for wildlife planning and management based on the best available science and integrate ethics and animal welfare concerns into decision-making. Read the story below to see why this policy is so important.
Please submit your comments (by March 30th) in favor of the draft policy (pasted below) at:
http://www.clubhouse.sierraclub.org/conservation/policy/trapping-policy.aspx
In your comments please indicate that you support the policy as is and commend the Sierra Club for addressing this important issue.
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Sierra Club’s Proposed Draft Policy on Wildlife Trapping
Use of body-gripping devices – including leghold traps, snares, and Conibear traps – are indiscriminate to age, sex and species and typically result in injury, pain, suffering, and/or death of target and non-target animals.
The Sierra Club considers body-gripping, restraining and killing traps and snares to be ecologically indiscriminate and unnecessarily inhumane and therefore opposes their use.
The Sierra Club promotes and supports humane, practical and effective methods of mitigating human-wildlife conflicts and actively discourages the use of inhumane and indiscriminate methods. Implementation and application of this policy should be based on the most recent and relevant science and should minimize harm to ecosystems.
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WHY THIS MATTERS
This photo was taken in New Mexico by a leader of the Sierra Club while out on an official Sierra Club outing. The image and the description (sent by the Sierra Club leader who witnessed this) highlights why this policy is needed:
“For your work on the Sierra Club trapping task force, I wanted to share this photo. It is of a trapped coyote we found on a Sierra Club outing I led last week. Being immersed in trapping related issues, I have seen the photos and read the accounts- but none of that could prepare me for this. Seeing the cruelty in person was an incredible blow. We found her struggling and injured just trying to get away from us as we approached but being tripped by the trap chain again and again. We could do nothing but take her picture and walk away. All the participants agreed to end the outing early to try to get help but we were not in cell range so I had to wait until I got home to call the game warden. He met me out there the next day but when we got to the trap site just shy of 24 hours later, the coyote was gone. The trap was just left lying shut on the ground and that makes me think the trapper did not come. After killing the coyote, he would have either taken the trap or reset and hidden it again. There were no tracks that anyone had been there since we had the day before. So I don’t know what happened to this little coyote but I think she managed to get herself and her badly mangled leg out of the trap on her own. I also don’t know how she can fare with an injury like this. Please use this photo any way you can as I promised her suffering would not be for naught.”
IF YOU AGREE THAT THIS IS CRUEL & UNCONSCIONABLE & YOU ARE A SIERRA CLUB MEMBER, PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD AND EXPRESS YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE SIERRA CLUB’S PROPOSED TRAPPING POLICY!
THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING UP FOR WILDLIFE! PLEASE SHARE THIS ACTION ALERT WITH OTHERS!