The Rural Voice, 1980-03, Page 11Trapping: Winter income or
cruelty to animals?
BY ADRIAN VOS
Elmer Trick, of Clinton, is 72 years
young. He is one of those men who are
young no matter what their age is.
He wrote a booklet: "Raising Mink For
Profit," when he was busily raising his
own mink on his "Spring Creek Fur
Farm", and lately he has w ritten some
articles on how to be more successful in
trapping wild fur. One article dealt with a
muskrat float and another with fox and
coyote stakes, both in the official public-
ation of the Ontario trappers association
"Canadian Trapper."
cruel way to trap by the president of "The
Kindness Club", Aida Fleming, and by
numerous other organization who are
against trapping.
"Not so," Mr. Belanger said. "The jaws
of the leghold trap do not close, as the
opponents of trapping consistently claim.
There is an opening between the jaws that
is narrow enough to prevent the animal
from escaping, but doesn't break the skin.
After all, trapping is done for the skin, so
tearing the skin would defeat the purpose
of the trap. A small animal then couldn't be
held in a trap set for a large animal, and a
raccoon get caught in a conibear trap
before his eyes. "The critter was dead as
soon as the trap closed."
Elmer Trick,who has hunted and trapped
for more than 40 years ,said teat if "these
girls" compare animal death with human
death, they should take a good look at
human death. "Humans don't djg quickly.
It takes days, or weeks, or even months
and years to die. That is a llionger than
any animal in a trap."
Most animals caught in western Ontario
are muskrats, with raccoons a close
second. Coyote and red fox follow.
In his work, officer Belanger often
catches animals for tagging to do research
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Mr. Trick can still wax indignant when
he recalls seeing a film which depicted the
slow death of animals caught in the
ranibear trap. "They put these poor
-inimals in those traps," he said, "just to
show how bad a trap is. If they had let them
walk there, as when a trap is set in the
wilds, the animal would have been killed
instantly."
Roy Belanger, a wildlife officer with the
ministry of Natural Resources agrees that
the conibear trap kills instantly, if properly
set. It puts pressure on the animal's heart
and stops it, causing instant death.
The leghold trap is considered to be a
large animal wouldn't be attracted to the
scent of a small trap anyway."
The claim by the animal societies _ that
the poor animal will be pulling for 24 hours
or until the trapper returns is also disputed
by the two men. "I have actually come
upon a fox sleeping with his foot in a trap,
"Mr. Belanger said. "If that is not proof
that no cruelty is involved, I wouldn't know
what is."
As to the accusation by.. "these girls
traipsing around the country, claiming
cruelty, Mr. Trick said that he once saw a
on movements. He uses the much
maligned leghold trap, because it catches
an animal without hurting it. "If it got
hurt, the catch would be useless," he said.
Wintertime trapping is a good source of
income for quite a number of farmers, and
is good recreation besides. By getting up
early on a fall or winter morning, a bracing
breeze and a sense of adventure, a farmer
can earn easily $100 a day, depending on
the length of his trapline.
A the North Bay sale, a good fox pelt
brought $100; raccoon $37, and wild mink
$25. Supplemented with muskrat at 59, this
soon adds up to a sizable additional
income.
THE AURAL VOICE/MARCH 1980 PG. 9