Killing Traps and Snares in North America: The Need for Stricter Checking Time Periods.

In this review, we make the point that current checking times for killing traps and snares are inadequate or nonexistent in most North American jurisdictions. We use Conibear 120 rotating-jaw traps and killing neck snares as examples of trapping devices that may fail to consistently and humanely kill furbearers. Because these killing devices are not powerful enough for the target species, the trigger systems do not properly position the animals in traps, or trappers are inexperienced and improperly set traps or snares, these killing devices become restraining devices, and animals suffer long and painful deaths. Because trappers use a variety of trigger configurations and trap sets, all killing devices, even those certified by trapper organizations or governments, should be monitored at least once every 24 h on traplines, but preferably every 12 h, because one cannot know a priori whether traps will strike animals in appropriate locations for a quick kill. However, when using trapping devices such as killing neck snares that are legal and allowed by government agencies despite being inhumane, trappers should check them every 12 h. When traplines are situated near urban areas, e.g., within 10 km, checks should be done every 12 h to release pets and non-target animals.

Steel-Jawed Leghold Traps and Killing Neck Snares: Similar Injuries Command Change to Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards.

According to the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS), which was signed by the European Community, Canada, and Russia in 1997, killing devices used for the capture of canids and other fur-bearing nonhuman animals should render an animal irreversibly unconscious within 300 s. However, killing neck snares are not included in the agreement. In this commentary, a parallel is drawn between injuries caused by steel-jawed leghold traps, which have been banned by the AIHTS signatory countries, and killing neck snares to demonstrate that these snares should also be included in international humane trapping standards (i.e., AIHTS). Previous scientific investigations have shown that neither manual nor power-killing neck snares can consistently render canids unconscious rapidly. Animals caught in killing neck snares suffer injuries that are similar to or worse than those reported for leg-captured canids. The authors strongly recommend that AIHTS be modified to include killing neck snares and that such devices be subject to the criteria applied to other trapping devices. Alternative restraining trapping devices, which are effective and more humane, are available for capturing wild canids.

Predator Bounties in Western Canada Cause Animal Suffering and CompromiseWildlife Conservation Efforts.

Although predation bounty programs (rewards offered for capturing or killing an animal) ended more than 40 years ago in Canada, they were reintroduced in Alberta in 2007 by hunting, trapping, and farming organizations, municipalities and counties, and in 2009 in Saskatchewan, by municipal and provincial governments and the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association. Bounty hunters use inhumane and non-selective killing methods such as shooting animals in non-vital regions, and killing neck snares and strychnine poisoning, which cause suffering and delayed deaths. They are unselective, and kill many non-target species, some of them at risk. Predator bounty programs have been found to be ineffective by wildlife professionals, and they use killing methods that cause needless suffering and jeopardize wildlife conservation programs. Our analysis therefore indicates that government agencies should not permit the implementation of bounty programs. Accordingly, they must develop conservation programs that will minimize wildlife-human conflicts, prevent the unnecessary and inhumane killing of animals, and ensure the persistence of all wildlife species.