NJ Court Allows Controversial Animal Trap

Animal rights groups believe this new form of foothold trap violates a law that bans "steel jaw leg-hold" traps, despite an appellate court ruling in favor of their use.

The court says enclosed foothold traps are an acceptable way to trap opossums and raccoons and do not violate a state law. The law was passed in 1984, to ban the steel jaw traps that animal rights groups hated because, rather than trapping or quickly killing an animal, instead resulted in hours of pain. These groups believe the new traps are similar enough to fall under the ban.

The foothold trap is like a mousetrap, featuring a round bar that clamps around an animal's foot when triggered. The design is such as to limit the types of animals capable of reaching the trigger mechanism to prevent dogs and cats from being trapped.

The decision allows the Fish and Game Council to use the leg-hold traps to helps control the raccoon and opossum populations, eliminates nuisance wildlife species, protects endangered species and reduces human and pet exposure to rabies and other diseases.

I'm no hunter, nor a trapper, but I do know that opossums and raccoons can really suck sometimes. My mother has had problems for years with groundhogs digging around the shed in her backyard, and her neighbor has a trap that is set up for her. It's a simple box trap, but it seems like every time he catches one and releases it into the woods, even miles away, it (or another groundhog) shows back up. I'm all for humane treatment of animals, but if box traps don't work, maybe something more permanent is in order.