TRAPPING: Why it's still needed

Regarding the letter from E. Helmuth voicing opposition to HJR-2, the bill to guarantee Idahoans the right to hunt, fish and trap. Helmuth is obviously against the bill, and while everyone is entitled to their opinion, likewise, we are entitled to use the natural resources of Idaho, and the taking of fur bearers with traps is one of those uses. It is allowed and regulated and it works.

Additionally, trapping is one of the most effective means of controlling problem animals. Helmuth needs to realize that with predators, control options are limited: trapping with steel traps and snares, depredation hunting, which is time consuming and relatively ineffective, live trapping which involves moving a problem child into another area where the process will start again, and poisoning, which is truly inhumane. Done properly, trapping is no more inhumane than many other processes used to harvest resources.

As a transplant from California, like so many other people in this state, I have been a firsthand witness to the results of animal rights vs. sound management practices. The results have been disastrous for both people and animals! Invasive species animals are everywhere, in places they were never seen before and the problems are manifest, while the means allowed to control them are ineffective at best and useless at worst. What’s more, once the animal rights people gained a toehold, originally they wanted a different type of trap used, regular steel traps were outlawed, then they wanted and got more draconian legislation passed until California outlawed trapping altogether and the state became a predator haven. People management over proven conservation, and an endless list of problems that did not exist.

I hope the people of Idaho realize that there can be no compromises on the trapping issue: If the camel gets its nose under the tent the rest of it is sure to follow, and trapping will be just the first sport that gets attacked.

BEN WALLACE

Athol