The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), charged with the management and stewardship of the National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) System, continues to expand trapping and hunting on refuges nationwide.

To allow the killing of wildlife on public lands established to protect wild animals contradicts even the broadest definitions of the word “refuge.” When the first National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1903, such activities were prohibited. But 1950s amendments to the 1934 Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act, established to fund conservation programs, opened many refuges to hunting and trapping. By purchasing “duck stamps,” hunters and trappers argued that they were the chief financial supporters of conservation and thus had the “right” to kill wildlife on public lands.

Today, more than half of the 519 refuges allow trapping and hunting. Bobcats, river otters, badgers, beavers, foxes, raccoons, and coyotes are trapped and maimed on refuges, while deer, moose, bear, mountain lions, ducks, geese, and other wild animals are shot and often wounded by “sport” hunters. According to the FWS, 81.5% of the 27.1 million visitors to National Wildlife Refuges in 1995 went to learn about the environment, to view and photograph wildlife, and to pursue similar non-consumptive recreational activities. Less than 4% went to hunt or trap.

According to an April 1999 Decision Research national public opinion poll commissioned by API, 88% of Americans feel that wildlife and habitat preservation should be the highest priority of the refuge system, and 79% oppose trapping on NWRs. Public pressure and intense lobbying on this issue resulted in an amendment to the 1999 Interior Appropriations bill to limit the use of body-gripping traps on refuges for commercial or recreational purposes. The House of Representatives voted 259-166 in support of this amendment. The Senate, however, favored special interest groups and killed the amendment by a 64-32 vote.

The FWS has the ability to ban trapping on the refuge system. This agency, whose mission is “to conserve and enhance our nation's fish and wildlife and its habitat,” must acknowledge that cruel and indiscriminate body-gripping traps do not belong on National Wildlife Refuges. These devices pose a serious hazard to the very animals that refuges are intended to protect, including threatened and endangered species, raptors, and migratory birds.

You can help. Join us in our campaign to end this cruel and unnecessary use of our public lands. Write Interior Secretary Gale Norton and ask her to return the true meaning of “refuge” to our nation’s Wildlife Refuge System by prohibiting in perpetuity fur trapping and the use of body-gripping traps:

Secretary Gale Norton
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Fax 202-208-6956
exsec@ios.doi.gov