"Dog's death sparks debate over trapping's place in suburbia"

[Eric J in MN]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--trappingsuburbia0305mar05,0,3427629.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press Writer

March 5, 2006, 11:33 AM EST

MINEOLA, N.Y. -- It was the last thing Gail Murphy thought she had to worry about when she took her dog for a walk through a suburban nature preserve on a quiet Sunday morning.

Zephyr, a floppy-eared mixed breed adopted by Murphy in 2004 after Hurricane Frances badly damaged an animal shelter in the Bahamas, ran about 50 feet ahead _ out of eyesight _ for a sip from a pool of standing water.

The next thing Murphy heard was a muffled "bang!" When she got to Zephyr, he was thrashing about _ trying desperately to free his head from a steel-jawed trap. "I was looking into his eyes," she recalled. "I knew I had no time. I knew he was going to die. It didn't take long until his body went limp."

...The dog's death has fueled debate over whether trapping still has a place in suburbia. Outdoorsmen for centuries have set traps to control predators and sell animals' furs, but suburban expansion has encroached on the domain of trappers while putting pets at risk.

[leftchick]

1. suburbia? Trapping has no place on earth!

omg this makes me so fucking angry! :argh:

<snip>

The Humane Society's Makarian counters: "Traps are like land mines. ... They are completely indiscriminate. It's not like a hunter with a firearm who can take aim at what he wants to kill. These traps kill any animal who walks into their path."

[Solon]

2. The Humane society is absolutely correct...

That includes humans as well. Some of the larger traps can damn near slice off a human leg if you step on it. These things are truly indiscriminate, imagine if a kid ran into it.

[Divernan]

3. I have an adopted cat who was found in a trap. She lost a paw.

She was there so long that when someone found her and released her from the trap, her paw just fell off. She's recovered physically and scampers around with a bit of a list, but she's very shy. This happened to her in the Wilmington, Delaware area.

[freeplessinseattle]

6. oh poor baby what she endured

I can't imagine

how can people be so cruel?

[Mythsaje]

4. WTF?

You'd think if pets were at risk, people would be at risk as well. It's time to end this practice. No debate.

[cornermouse]

5. I'd have made it my business to find out who set the trap.

[xultar]

7. You let me know and I'll cut off his balls.

[roguevalley]

9. I will help you. I have a butter knife somewhere. I have no truck with

trapping and its rampant up here. I taught first grade for years and I had this skinny little kid who, whenever anyone brought up seeing an animal -caribou, eagle, badger, etc- he would pipe up and say how his old man shot one. I will never forget the day I finally had a foaming fit in front of the class over that. God. THen a few years later, his old man dies and we end up at the funeral. My teaching partner had never been to a fundie funeral and told me I could not leave her sight. We sat and there were two rows of polyester preachers behind his coffin, which was steel gray and on a riser thing. During the 'hallelujahs' and huffing around, she finally leaned over to me all scared and disgusted and said, "Is it me or do you think that coffin looks like an egg carton?" It did. I could have died trying not to laugh.

Karma. It's a bitch.

[roguevalley]

8. I would fucking shoot the bastard who did that to my boy. I would

hunt his sorry ass and shoot him. That is abysmal and appalling. Sue him, lady. You will never get your dog's frantic eyes out of your nightmares. Ever.

[WindRavenX]

10. who the FUCK has STEEL TRAPS in fucking SUBURBIA??

I'd sue that fucker for all their worth. This is appalling beyond belief.

It's bad enough those things exist at all...but in suburbia? Honestly. There is no need for it. At all.

[madrchsod]

11. trapping in the burbs? that is not right and i would think

against the law. one can only trap with a license and only during specific times of the year. there is no such a thing as "domain of trappers". my father-in-law and my best friend were trappers and would be appalled by someone doing this. oh yes-"still has a place"? it never did have a place!.i hope who ever did this faces a huge fine and jail time. this is the kind of asshole that gives trapping,which is a "necessary evil", a bad name.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

12. I have heard trappers...

say that they have caught cats and dogs in their traps.

I have also heard them say that they killed and skinned them.

They were lovely fellows. Lovely. God's children and all that.

[madrchsod]

13. those people were not trappers

there is no way a dog or a cat could be caught in a properly set trap.

[xchrom]

14. all kinds of unintended animals are caught in traps.

traps are simply barbaric and there is no need for them what so ever.

[The Stranger]

15. Kicked.