TRAP deserves to be taken seriously

The Department of Natural Resources may be hoping that the ongoing controversy surrounding the province’s trapping industry will just go away, but it shouldn’t hold its breath.

Concerns for the way trapping is done in this part of Canada are gaining steam and could escalate if certain politicians continue to keep the issue at the bottom of the ‘to-do’ pile.

It’s time for government to face up to the reality that a large percentage of people in this province are appalled by the way the fur harvesting industry is being run. Current regulations cater far more to the interests of a small group of trappers than to the population at large.

Unlike in the past, there’s now an organized group of concerned citizens that calls itself TRAP, or the Trapping Awareness Project, which has supporters throughout Atlantic Canada.

Currently the group is embroiled in a campaign to convince government that changes to regulations governing the province’s fur harvesting industry, which in their opinion are outdated and disconnected from the today’s society, are needed.

Fur harvesters often rationalize that the act of setting traps and snares to catch raccoons, coyotes, beaver and muskrats not only provides the trappers with an income, it helps to maintain the population of certain types of wildlife, known in some circles as ‘nuisance animals’, thereby ensuring a more people-friendly balance of nature.

Trappers tend to believe that individuals prefer to have traps set on their land without their knowledge to putting up with a handful of pesky raccoons tipping over the garbage cans at night. Maybe it’s about time they did a survey.

Opponents say no landowner should have to worry that potentially dangerous animal traps and snares will be set on their land without their knowledge and permission, as current laws allow. TRAP also proposes a larger safety buffer zone between traps and people, and a requirement that trappers carry liability insurance.

The group says it has no interest in putting an end to the fur harvest in general, just making it safer and a less flagrant violation of the rights of property owners and users of the land.

We think TRAP’s proposals sound not only reasonable, but important and necessary in terms of public safety and rights. In recent years, there have been numerous media reports about family pets being injured and killed in illegally and legally set traps. How long will it be before an unsuspecting child is seriously injured in a powerful leg-hold trap is anyone’s guess.

We believe it behooves Minister of Natural Resources David Morse, Liberal and NDP leaders and Dept. of Natural Resources officials to take a hard look at the proposals.

With tourism in such a shaky state, we wonder how visitors would react to current trapping regulations. And what about real estate values? Campaigns to lure new blood to the area would certainly be hurt should word get out that such dangerous contraptions can be set so freely.

Does Nova Scotia want to be known as a backward province with antiquated laws that put its people and visitors at risk? Of course not.