By Charlie Otto Rasmussen, Editor
Ashland, Wis—At first glance through a door window, the space conjured the trappings of so many police procedurals, forever streaming on network television, as men and women dressed in matching aprons pored over examination tables. Inside, overhead lights illuminated a series of white polymer tables, while the clinking of scalpels and forceps on stainless steel pans accented low murmurings about trauma and tissue samples.
But there was no crime to investigate, no cops or attorneys waiting in the wing to build a legal case. Closer inspection of this pop-up laboratory revealed a collection of talented veterinarians and biologists who gathered last summer to evaluate the safety, efficiency, and ultimately the humaneness of traps employed to catch furbearers like red fox, racoon, bobcat, and coyote.
“People understand that if we want to continue regulated fur trapping into the future, we need to do things ethically and respectfully,” said John Olson, retired furbearer specialist with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Olson served as a lead organizer, bringing together more than three dozen scientists to the DNR’s far northern field office in Ashland. Over three days, the group handled 210 furbearers trapped from all over the United States.
As they’ve done since 1998, wildlife professionals from state, federal, and tribal agencies allied with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA)—plus trained volunteer trappers—engaged in the ongoing nationwide study to evaluate trapping gear afield. The list includes foothold traps, cage traps, cable restraints, snares, and body grip-traps commonly called Conibears. Wildlife veterinarians performed necropsies on the catch to document the presence or absence injuries. The work is meticulous and thoroughly documented, supplying data for the ever-refined guide “Best Management Practices for Trapping Furbearers in the United States,” which covers the full range of traps in use. Each trap studied has a specific furbearer species correlation under the BMP system. It is these BMPs that provide assurances to a global public that fur purchased from the North American marketplace are acquired in a good way.
“Trappers want the most effective, most humane tools available,” said Kelly Straka, Division of Fish & Wildlife director for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who made the trip to Ashland. An accredited veterinarian and wildlife biologist, Straka has expereince in multiple states through mid-America. “They’re here today, from WTA [Wisconsin Trapper’s Association], helping work up the animals. Nobody wants to inflict more pain and trauma.”
Seeing’s believing
Wildlife experts from multiple organizations including GLIFWC all have a role to play in informing trapping BMPs. Individual trappers and researchers collaborate to gather information on trap efficiency, selectivity, and how practical various techniques are for capturing animals. Traps are used to harvest furbearers, as part of mark-and-recapture research, damage control, and animal reintroductions programs.
In the Wisconsin Ceded Territory, Red Cliff Band Ojibwe trappers Mike Gustafson and Kurt Basina captured fishers in northern Wisconsin for translocation to Tennessee in a reintroduction program GLIFWC helped coordinate. The Red Cliff duo also assisted in BMP research on their Northwoods trapline.
For veterinary specialists, their responsibility centers on assessing any trap-related injuries. Wildlife Veterinarian Dan Grove from Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said evaluating trap damage requires careful examination and a clear understanding of what might cause trouble for a released animal. The work involves inspecting a whole furbearer carcass, followed by a second review after the pelt has been removed.
“An injury might not seem like much. Say there’s a small skin laceration,” Grove said. “But if it went down into the joint, that’s actually a fairly severe thing, even if it’s a really tiny lesion. So there’s that, versus a hemorrhage running all the way across [a foot] because the blood vessels ruptured. But that may be just a bruise.”
Through the necropsy process, veterinarians record any trap damage into a standardized number system ranging from 0-100. Grove said a trap that racks up points is going to receive a failing grade. Oftentimes no injury, or very mild injuries are all that can be detected. The system has provided wildlife managers and fur trappers reliable information for selecting the right trap to capture any one of 23 managed wild furbearer species in North America. Virtually anyone, including overseas consumers from the European Union to China, are able to follow online the processes behind the modern-day fur trade.
“Every year trap manufactures come up with a new design, a little tweak to existing traps,” Olson said. “That’s something we’re always looking at testing. And all that information is shared with the public.”
Olson said BMP-approved traps are used more than 80% of the time by licensed trappers in the US. Being a generational pursuit, oftentimes passed down within families, there are still some older, less-humane traps in use.
“With continued education and research, we believe volunteer compliance in BMP trapping will continue to increase,” Olson said.
Learn more about trapping, furbearers, and BMPs at fishwildlife.org/afwa-inspires/furbearer-management.