The Rural Voice, 1988-02, Page 41potential liability a landowner faces in
case Ford or his helpers are injured on
their property or in the case of a third
party sustaining injury as a result of
Ford's trapping activities.
This statute requires that occupiers
do what is reasonable in all the cir-
cumstances to see that persons enter-
ing their property are not injured by
the condition of the lands and prem-
ises or by the activities thereon. This
requirement might be construed to
mean that signs should be posted
warning people that trapping is being
carried on.
Why should I have to worry that
one of my dogs or cats or neighbour's
pets wanders and gets caught in one of
when rabies went through his trapping
area last year, reducing the fox popu-
lation, he still trapped for fox and
caught only one. Is that his idea of
"taking surplus, but not delving into
breeding stock"? Some conservation-
ist he is! But then he would have had
to forego the $50 for that one pelt.
Trappers take as much as they can
from the wildlife community, while
neither returning nor contributing
anything to it. To me this is freeload-
ing at its very worst. Trapping may be
"legal," but morally isn't it really a
form of theft — taking valuable mer-
chandise, without the owner's consent
and for which nothing is paid? Oh
yes, I know, the licence did cost $5.50.
"Trappers take as much as they can from the wildlife community, while neither retuming
nor contributing anything to it. To me this is freeloading at its very worst," Weinberg writes.
Ford's leghold traps? Not very long
ago, a landowner in the Meaford area
had his own dog caught in a leghold
trap placed on his property without his
permission. Even had the landowner
given the trapper permission, would
the dog have known the difference?
This case got reported, but there are
likely many more such cases that
haven't been.
The claim that "if you let a surplus
of any fur species build up, overpop-
ulation and disease kills them" is
absolute nonsense and nothing more
than a naive attempt to justify what
Ford does for a living. The truth is
that nature can and does manage for
the most part quite well without man's
intervention and manipulation for his
own selfish gain.
A wide variety of factors, such as
availability of food, parasites (internal
and extemal), diseases, infant mortal-
ity, loss of habitat, harsh winters, dry
summers, etc., determines the species
numbers which, by and large, are cyc-
lic. In addition, many wild animals
die from roadside accidents — far
more than one might imagine. Deer
are the most obvious example because
of their size, but many smaller ani-
mals, such as fox, skunk, raccoon, and
porcupine, are run over.
Ford claims he is a conservationist
and that "Trappers will shorten the
season if the numbers are low." Yet
he has no shame in admitting that
All the preliminary work is done
for them by others. It's the farmers
who work the fertile land in southern
Ontario which grows good crops that
support the fur species and it's land-
owners who are willing to co-operate
with the MNR wetlands promotion
program which creates new wetland
habitats for mink, muskrat, and bea-
ver. But it's Ford and his accomplices
who reap the benefits as if by right.
Trapping is strictly a cruel busi-
ness without a conscience. It displays
man's "Hyde" side at its very meanest.
Just because man has the means to
dominate wild animals, is that reason
enough for him to be the worst and
most feared predator of all? The hides
and fur of domestic livestock slaugh-
tered for food can keep people warm.
So can "fun furs." If people really
thought about the pain and suffering
wild animals endure from the time
they are caught until they freeze to
death or are finished off by Ford
before he removes their bodies from
his traps, about the birds of prey and
other nuisance animals that foul
Ford's traps through no fault of their
own, they would come to realize that
trapping really should be outlawed in
this day and age. This continuous
slaughter just doesn't make any sense.
A recent poster I saw shows a woman
wearing a fur coat. It reads, "Warm
and cozy, eh?" The original owners
thought so too!O
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FEBRUARY 1988 39