END BARBARIC TRAPPING
Trapping has no place in modern society. Trappers do not contribute to communities as they like to say; they instead steal our chance to see wildlife and enjoy the magic it gives us. Trappers contribute about $300,000 yearly in $28 licensing fees, with each trapper killing at least five animals. Yet wolf viewing alone in Montana brings in more than $80 million a year! Still, trappers can set traps on the border of Yellowstone and steal the right to see this beautiful animal in the wild from us.
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Trappers destroy beavers for fun, as many have told me. Yet, with climate change, beavers are the only species that store water, releasing it slowly, which is vital to our changing climate. Remember, the West was teeming with water and springs; dams and modern development have left it arid. The price of fur remains at record lows; no one profits from trapping.
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Coyotes are being killed without regard and are considered varmint in Montana; all this occurs without the understanding that animals feel pain, love, and suffer when a pack member dies, but many trappers argue that wildlife feels no pain. Such a sophomoric and disingenuous mentality explains why trapping must be banned. These are not normal people.
The non-profit Foundation for Wildlife Management is a wolf-destroying organization whose Board has been accused of self-dealing, is now paying $500 bounties in Montana and up to $2000 in parts of Idaho for a dead wolf. Groups like this are the right arm of radical trophy-hunting organizations that dream of fields of bull elk.
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There is no reason wildlife must be tortured. Why is trapping viewed as a sport when it is devoid of fair chase and captures far too many unintended species, known as bycatch? They were living, breathing animals that simply wanted to co-exist, yet these people see it as their right to torture and kill, and they must be stopped. Governor Greg Gianforte is a trapper and a low-life. He killed Max, the wolf, and continues to kill wildlife on the Yellowstone border.
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Trappers set out land mines across our public lands, endangering people, pets, and wildlife. Federal and state agencies do little to stop this madness; the consequences are real.
Wildlife is being stolen from us by thugs who enjoy beautiful wild animals' suffering. The time has come to stop this NOW.
What has Bold Visions Conservation done to End Trapping Now?
For the last two Montana legislative sessions, Executive Director Stephen Capra has been at the capitol to educate lawmakers and fight off some of the worst bills these conservative legislators have introduced, including blocking legislation that would have made trapping part of the state constitution.
Worked in the legislature and with the press to stop the killing of grizzlies by ranchers on public lands and to stop the delisting of grizzly bears.
Continue to write weekly our Sunday Sermon to educate the public.
Testified at countless Game and Fish hearings and at the legislature to stop trapping and end the reckless killing of wildlife in Montana.
Will be educating legislators in Idaho at the coming legislative session and continuing to get the public engaged with Television ads, social media, and countless editorials to a wide array of papers.
Working on future legislation to stop the madness of trapping.
Creation of a sportsmen group, Hunters in Defense of Predators (defenseofpredators.org) to put facts on the table concerning how predators help wildlife, not end hunting opportunities.
Provide a voice for sportsmen who oppose trapping, and predator-killing contests, to educate their members and stop the divide and misinformation that allows the slaughter of predators to continue.
Being a voice for wild beauty and protecting our public lands for wildlife, not the torture and killing of precious wildlife.
Both states continue to kill wildlife irresponsibly and do not care to use science, rather they want to return to the 1880s and allow bounties on wolves and use bogus science to destroy predators.
The work will continue with one goal: End Trapping on Public lands in Idaho and Montana. It is not an easy path, but stay tuned for updates.