The Rural Voice, 1988-01, Page 231
with your bare hands you'd never
catch a thing." In late fall, he usually
sets a dozen fox traps, most of them
the new type with a padded jaw.
"They don't hurt the animals and
they're a lot more humane," he says.
Different traps are required for
different species. The only animals
that can legally be caught on dry land
using a leg trap are fox, coyote, lynx,
and bobcat. Raccoon and skunk are
caught in box traps. Traps for beaver,
mink, and muskrat are anchored above
water and in the river bed. An angle
bracket allows the animal to swim
down into the trap but doesn't let it
back up. Mink will drown instantly,
but muskrat and beaver have special
valves which stop water from entering
their lungs. When they are trapped
under water, the carbon monoxide
level gradually builds up, killing them
with little sign of struggle.
The OTA is constantly looking
for improved, more humane trapping
devices. "If we can find something
better, we'll use them. A dead animal
isn't going to get away, so economi-
cally it makes sense to kill the animals
as quickly as possible."
Many of Ford's traps and animals
have been stolen over the years. Two
years ago, 129 of his traps were taken.
When traps cost an average of $5
each, their loss can be burdensome.
There is, however, a moral code
among trappers to leave one another's
traps alone. A $53 fine and the loss of
one's licence for varying periods of
time also serves as a deterrent.
Nature and man's influence on the
environment play a big role in the suc-
cess of trapping animals, particularly
the muskrat. Though muskrats are
prolific breeders with five to six in a
litter three times a year, a hot summer
with scant rain will dry up the little
ponds that sustain them. "You can
have two muskrat colonies in a one -
acre marsh," Ford says. "There's 15
muskrat that you can take year after
year without hurting the breeding
stock. But if a farmer drains the
marsh then that's the end of the musk-
rat and the water table is lowered too."
Muskrats that feed on bullrushes
are fat and have a fur of good quality.
Ford occasionally catches muskrats in
spring creeks, but they are small and
thin and their hide is not very thick, an
important consideration in grading.
Recognizing that foxes carry
rabies, coyotes kill sheep, raccoons
eat or damage a tremendous amount
of corn, and beavers flood land, most
fanners are happy to have trappers on
their property. (Trappers must get
permission from farmers to trap on
their land.) But not all landowners are
as co-operative. "Most city people
who buy land come up and boot you
out because they don't understand
what you are doing." Ford partially
blames Walt Disney for creating a
larger than life fairytale perception of
conservation. People get the two
mixed up."
Ford recalls the results when the
season for trapping raccoon was
shortened too much about eight years
ago. "The coon population built up
considerably and distemper hit in the
Aylmer area and gradually spread
throughout the rest of Ontario. They
had such a fever that the skin cooked
and fell out in clumps. They had
brown skin instead of white. It was
literally cooked." The disease killed
more young coons than old. "It just
about wiped them out two years ago.
�Xr
animals. Disney made animals into
people, Ford says, and the public
thinks this is the way animals are in
the wild. But animals don't all live
together in nature, he adds. "One is
breakfast for another."
Animal welfare activists also play
on people's emotions, Ford says.
"Someone who hasn't lived among
wild animals and doesn't understand
the natural cycle can slant the whole
issue. Activists think that lots of ani-
mals will be running around if trap-
pers don't interfere, but that's just not
the case." Overpopulation leads to
diseases which reduce numbers dras-
tically, and the stress factor in higher
populations reduces the number of
young that are born. "You can harvest
a certain percentage of fur species and
never hurt the numbers, but if you let a
surplus build up, overpopulation and
diseases will kill them."
"Conservation is the wise use of a
natural resource. Preservation is not
The numbers picked up last year, but
now they're gone again," Ford says.
Rabbit fever, or tularemia, often
spreads in the rabbit, beaver, and
muskrat species when populations get
too high. The disease, fatal in rodents,
is transmitted in the water supply.
Ford is often exposed to animals
with rabies and his son recently con-
tracted tularemia, which in humans is
similar to a mild flu, but is persistent
and can be fatal if not treated. Handl-
ing and skinning diseased animals is a
risk that comes with the job. Ford is
immunized against rabies, and has
avoided most animal -related diseases
over the years.
After a good day's harvest, Ford
estimates that he spends three to four
hours a night skinning the animals,
then stretching the skins over wooden
forms and scraping them to remove all
excess fat and meat. Some species of
fur are stretched with the fur turned in,
(cont d)
JANUARY 1988 21