- Target:
- NH Legislature, NH Fish and Game Department, NH Governor Hassan
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- tinyurl.com
In New Hampshire we have roughly 500 trappers who combined kill and maim thousands of animals each year –6,000 target animals and an estimated 12,000 non-targets.
These animals are caught in the cruelest of archaic devices known as the steel-jaw leghold trap, the body-crushing conibear trap, and wire cabled snares. The pain and suffering these animals go through can only be imagined. In the leghold trap animals pull to free themselves and in the process tear flesh and tendons, sometimes even chewing off their limb to escape. The conibear trap is meant to be an instant kill trap but many times slams shut on a body part and doesn’t kill immediately. The animal can and does languish in excruciating pain and fear for hours. Because the snare is the cruelest of the cruel, its use is limited; but it can still be used in NH in water and under ice and in some instances on land.
The non-targeted victims include domestic animals, endangered and threatened species, and many birds.
In November an American Bald Eagle was rescued after being found in a leghold trap in Salem, NH. One of the police officers involved in the rescue stated the eagle would’ve died if he hadn’t been found. Not even a month later in 2012 a beloved dog, Andrew, was tragically killed by a licensed trapper’s illegally set conibear trap in Auburn, NH. Out for what should have been a fun day of walking on a public trail with his owner, Andrew smelled a baited trap. When he investigated the smell, the trap slammed shut on him. His owner struggled to free him but she could not release the powerful trap. Andrew’s owner, a veterinarian, made this statement afterwards: "Anybody could have landed in that trap, kids, anybody else's dog, and truthfully no wild animal should die that way either. It was miserable. Supposedly they've found this guy and removed his traps, but that doesn't mean there isn't somebody else out there doing the same thing."
It’s time to end this savagery! NOT ONE MORE animal should die as Andrew did. 90 countries and 8 states have banned or restricted trapping in some way. It’s time New Hampshire become the 9th state and show compassion for our fellow creatures with whom we share this planet.
This petition is for New Hampshire residents ONLY. Please only sign if you are a resident of NH.
We, the undersigned citizens of New Hampshire, call on our government officials to end the savagery of trapping furbearing animals which brutalizes thousands of animals each year.
Trapping also endangers non-target animals like beloved Andrew, a rescued mixed breed dog who died in a body-crushing conibear trap set on a public trail in Auburn on December 5, 2012.
It’s time in New Hampshire to give our animal friends, tame and wild, a safer outdoor environment in which to walk and run.
This petition is for New Hampshire residents ONLY. Please only sign if you are a resident of NH.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The New Hampshire Citizens Against Trapping petition to NH Legislature, NH Fish and Game Department, NH Governor Hassan was written by Linda Dionne and is in the category Animal Rights at GoPetition.