Animals living in the wild are the unseen victims of human exploitation. Their lives are cruelly cut short for the sake of greed, vanity, and the so-called thrill of sadistic bloodsports. Every form of violence and cruelty imaginable is inflicted upon wild animals and yet the American public is largely unaware of these abuses.

The Fur Trade: Industrialized Cruelty

Fur has long been associated with fashion but few people realize that they are wearing the bodies of animals who lives have been brutalized for their vanity and the greed of fur merchants, fur farmers and fur trappers. Approximately 4 million animals -- bobcats, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, lynxes, opossums, minks, nutria, beavers, otters, muskrats, sable, seal, otters and other animals are killed each year by trappers in the United States. Millions of dogs, cats, birds, and other animals are also killed or maimed in these traps by accident. Trappers call these animals inadvertently killed “TRASH ANIMALS.” Another three to four million additional animals are raised in deplorable, caged conditions on fur farms where they meet their death by anal electrocution.

Traps

Leghold traps are one of the most common traps used in Pennsylvania but there are also body crushing traps and neck snares. Some traps are set underwater where it takes animals up to 20 minutes to drown.   State regulations require trappers to check their traps every twenty four hours but these laws are never enforced. Animals often die from heat or freeze to death before the traps are checked. Some animals chew off their own limbs to get out of the leghold trap only to die a slow agonizing death from blood loss and infection later. If the animal survives in agony in the trap, the trapper will bludgeon or stomp the animal to death. A common stomping method is “for the trapper to stand on the animal's rib cage, concentrating his foot near the heart. He then reaches down, takes the animal's hind legs in his hands, and yanks.” (http://ogb.wfu.edu/issue/2001/10.04/editorials/fur.asp) Stop the cruelty—boycott fur wear and use only cruelty free products.

Hunting: Unfair Game Neanderthals stalked and killed animals for food during the Ice Age … and they still do it today for “SPORT.”  Just about every wild animal that is not endangered or threatened is hunted or trapped in the state of Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, the death toll for the 1996-97 hunting and trapping season was 5,945,116 animals. This does not include countless millions who die, e.g. : "small game" species such as rabbits, gophers, and muskrats whose death tolls are not required to be reported, animals who are wounded but run away and die a lingering death, and animals who are inadvertently trapped and released with mortal wounds. Hunters and trappers have way too much power over wildlife in Pennsylvania and other states where they comprise less than *9% of the state population. The reasons for their power over wildlife reside in an archaic funding structure.

• This “less than 9%” statistic is based on the PA census 2003: 12,365,455 

• And the number of Licensed Hunters 1998: 1,063,000

In addition to the inherent cruelty involved in hunting, hunting destroys the natural balance of animal populations.

Hunting causes species overpopulation as well as skewed sex ratios by killing males after breeding allowing disproportionately large numbers of pregnant females to “rebound” the population to equal or higher pre-kill population levels. Predation, starvation and disease are unfortunate but they are nature's way of insuring that the strongest survive. By killing the strongest animals and removing predators, hunters unnaturally manipulate the gene pool and reduce species diversity.

The expression “conservation” is often a code word for hunting. So if you see the term conservation in organization brochures -- this means that it is usually a pro-hunting organization. While they may sound like animal protection groups, many organizations are geared towards promoting hunting and trapping. The National Wildlife Federation, The National Audubon Society, The Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy, The Conservation Society, The Wilderness Society, and The World Wildlife Fund are all Pro-Hunting/Trapping Organizations. Conservation is often used as a euphemism to describe programs that ensure that there are always plenty of animals to hunt and trap.

Canned Hunts And Internet Canned Hunting

Perhaps the most horrific form of hunting is the canned hunt and/or the internet hunt. These fenced hunting farms represent animal cruelty in the form of big business. For animal breeders and zoos, it is a lucrative way to get rid of mature animals that have outlived their “cuteness” in zoos, parks and roadside attractions. No longer able to attract large crowds to see the adorable tiger or lion cubs, baby goats, zebras, or fawns, the adult animals are sold to canned hunt farms where hunters pay huge premiums to brutally kill them. Often these animals were hand reared by zookeepers and had learned to trust humans. So they will approach the hunters, only to be blasted away. Because these are often tame and trusting animals living in a fenced farm, they don't have a chance of survival. Animals can be backed up against the fence and slaughtered so the hunter can bring home a trophy.  To learn more and see the video, click here.

Recently, canned hunt promoters have tried to offer wild animal hunting over the internet via webcam. PA House Bill 1435 was passed in June, 2005 outlawing this heinous practice. Despite this positive step to stop internet hunting, state legislators have allowed canned hunts farms to continue to flourish in Pennsylvania. Write to PA and all state legislators and ask them to ban canned hunt farms in Pennsyvania. To locate state legislators go to Project Vote Smart.

Other things you can do:

• Advocate for non-lethal alternatives to hunting

• Advocate to ban canned hunts and internet hunting

• Post your lands with no hunting and trapping signs

• Patrol to protect wildlife

• Report trespassers and poachers to the police and if that fails send a letter
to the editor of your local newspaper