About Born Free USA
Born Free USA as it is constituted today came about when two organizations combined forces in December 2007.
The Animal Protection Institute was established in 1968 as a national, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to end animal abuse and to help protect the environment throug legislation, litigation, advocacy, and education.
Born Free USA was established in 2002 as the American arm of the U.K.-based Born Free Foundation, a major leader in wildlife issues in the United Kingdom and Europe, with interests all over the globe.
Now one of the leading international organization working on the issue of trapping, fur, and wildlife conflict, Born Free USA has worked successfully with communities and decision makers across the U.S. to reduce and restrict the use of cruel and indiscriminate body-gripping traps. With expert advice, resources, and publications Born Free USA works with local communities, legislators, regulatory agencies, and the media to highlight the problems of trapping and implement humane alternatives. Wholly dependent on public support, Born Free USA represents those citizens who wish to end the use of cruel traps in their communities and across the nation.
Other key areas of concern for Born Free USA include animals used in entertainment, the issue of exotic "pets," animals in zoos, and the suffering of animals used in agriculture. Born Free USA works diligently to protect animals from cruelty and exploitation, to assure compatibility between humans and other species, and to protect our shared environment.
About Trapping
Trapping is used to capture, and often to kill, animals. Some forms of trapping, done properly and for the right reason, can be humane. For example, a trap that catches an injured animal alive may allow that animal to be treated and released. On the other hand, a live-trap used to move a "nuisance animal" may cause that animal to suffer if not attended to quickly, and even then may not resolve the kind of problem the animal might create. For example, trapping a raccoon because it enters the attic may mean baby raccoons are left to starve and die, and that their remains have to be removed, whereby leaving the animals alone until the young have left, and then properly sealing the entranceway so that there will be no future entry by raccoons or other animals, may resolve the problem in a humane, inexpensive, and permanent manner.
These kinds of issues are dealt with elsewhere by Born Free USA, but Ban Cruel Traps is specifically designed to explain why body-gripping traps can be and must be eliminated, and how you can do it. They are egregiously cruel, but once we understand how to do so, we CAN eliminate them.
Body-Gripping Traps, Cruel & Indiscriminate
Body-gripping traps are indiscriminate. Many companion dogs and cats have been caught in these dreadful devices, and even with the help of frantic humans, they have died in shock and pain because these traps are nearly impossible to open without the correct key device to release the locking mechanism. These traps can and often do catch non-target wildlife species of no value to fur trappers, including birds and even rare and endangered animals.
Learn more about the types of traps still used in the U.S.
We define "body-gripping traps" as leghold traps; neck snares; leg or foot snares; and Conibear and other traps designed to instantly kill by crushing the neck or torso of the animal. Some such devices may kill instantly but often the victims suffer severe physical injury, psychological trauma, thirst, hypothermia, and predation.
Trappers have designed a class of "quick-kill" traps that supposedly kill instantly by slamming shut on an animal's body, crushing vital organs. Like all traps, they don't always work as planned, often with horrific results. The animal may enter a "quick-kill" trap the wrong way, and is partly crushed, and dies slowly. Snow and ice conditions can prevent proper closure. Aquatic mammals, like beavers, reflexively close off their air passages when submerged, and slowly suffocate while frantically trying to reach the surface, dying in terror without actually drowning.
Who Opposes Leghold Traps?
The American Veterinary Medical Association considers the steel-jaw leghold trap to be inhumane.
— American Veterinary Medical Association, position statement, JAVMA, Vol. 203, No. 3, August 1, 1993
In opposing use of traps, we are in good company. A 1978 national survey conducted for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by Yale University showed that 78% of respondents opposed the use of steel-jawed leghold traps. A 1996 poll by the Animal Welfare Institute had similar results, with 74% of Americans opposed to leghold traps. The American Veterinarian Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, the World Veterinary Association, and the National Animal Control Association all agree that leghold traps are inhumane.
More Than 80 Countries Have Banned the Leghold Trap
Some 89 countries have banned the leghold trap, recognizing that it is a barbarically cruel device, and that wildlife management goals can be achieved without it. Countries that still allow leghold traps (for example, in the U.S. only 8 states have banned or severely restricted its use) are the main fur-producing jurisdictions, under intense pressure from the international fur industry to continue use of leghold and body-gripping traps.
Why Is This Important?
Trapping apologists will often try to suggest that fears expressed about the cruelty of trapping are exaggerated and unfounded, and generally expressed only by a fringe group of fanatical animal-rights extremists. It can be important to counter that argument by citing diverse critics of such traps. In seeking bans, for example at the municipal level, being able to demonstrate a wide range of opinion from various sources in overall general agreement that these traps are inhumane can be helpful as a tactic in rebutting the contention that only a few extremists are concerned about the traps being cruel.
The Use of Cruel Traps Is Unnecessary
Never, ever assume that it is necessary to cull or reduce a wildlife population simply because a group of people or a government agency tells you so.
Wildlife managed itself for literally billions of years before there were state and federal government agencies — not to mention hunting, trapping, and fishing industries — finding a "need" to use trapping as a "wildlife management tool."
People have varying degrees of tolerance to wildlife in their midst, and often their concerns can be shown to be exaggerated, or needless. Problems caused by wild animals can be better resolved by changing the conditions that allow them to happen than by punishing or removing the animals.
If there is a genuine need to move animals, live-trap devices, such as culvert traps or box-traps, can, if properly used and maintained, be used at little risk to either target or non-target species.
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