California was still trapping animals for their fur — not anymore
Rights — di Andrea Indiano
California has banned fur-animal traps across the American state, to the satisfaction of Governor Gavin Newsom.
California was still trapping animals for their fur — not anymore
California has banned fur-animal traps across the American state, to the satisfaction of Governor Gavin Newsom.
California has become the first state in the United States to ban traps for wild animals used in the fur trade. The practice of hunting and capturing animals in order to sell their pelts is still widespread, but Governor Gavin Newsom has put an end to this grim custom in the territory he presides over. California had already made a name for itself in the fight against fur when San Francisco banned it for good: now across the entire state, the use of traps for this purpose will be prohibited.
Potter the Otter here with a very special announcement:
@GavinNewsom has put his paw of approval on #AB273 🖊️🐾 My friends & I should not have to live in fear of being trapped & our fur being sold!
Shout out to @LorenaAD80 for getting us one step closer to a #CaliforniaFurAll.
@GavinNewsom has put his paw of approval on #AB273 🖊️🐾 My friends & I should not have to live in fear of being trapped & our fur being sold!
Shout out to @LorenaAD80 for getting us one step closer to a #CaliforniaFurAll.
Traps still permitted for research and pest control
Governor Newsom celebrated the passage of the law on Twitter by posting a photo of an otter soft toy. These animals, along with coyotes, foxes, beavers, mink and other wild species, had long been at the centre of a fur trade whose first step is the use of traps to hunt wildlife. This will no longer be possible, but it remains legal to trap wild animals for other reasons such as pest control, scientific research and the protection of public health.
Read also: Wales bans the use of wild animals in circuses
Until now, it was possible to obtain a licence from the state of California to set traps in forests and woodlands to hunt wild animals for use in the fur trade. Although the number of licences issued had fallen enormously in recent years, the practice was still ongoing. It is, in fact, a tradition of the American state that began before the gold rush of the late nineteenth century, when explorers killed wild animals for their pelts, which were useful as a currency of exchange with native peoples. The activity has continued to this day, when the majority of furs are used in the fashion world, but mainly outside California, as Newsom himself pointed out.
Protests against the fur-trap ban
"Because individual trappers concentrate their operations in limited geographical areas, they can locally eliminate populations of the species they target, compromising the ecological functioning of the area and reducing wildlife-watching opportunities in these areas," reads the new California law. "These traps for catching animals are a cruel practice that has no place in twenty-first-century California," said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. "It is particularly cruel and simply unnecessary and costly. Fortunately, there has been a real shift in attitudes about how we treat animals."
Although it is hard to find a downside to such a just law — other than the delay in enacting it — one association has protested against the new rule. As reported by Associated Press, the California Farm Bureau Federation, which represents agricultural businesses, has challenged the law on the grounds that it will prevent the installation of traps for animal control and crop protection. This reasoning, distinct from the fur trade, did not, however, affect the decision made by Newsom and his legislators.