The Oregon trapping initiative is the latest offensive in a national campaign to ban cruel traps. The use of the ballot initiative process is the single most effective means of securing a ban on cruel traps. Lacerations, broken bones, and joint dislocations can result from the jaws of the trap slamming shut. Further injury results as the animal struggles to free himself, sometimes chewing off or twisting off a limb or breaking teeth from biting at the metal trap. The steel-jawed leghold trap has been declared inhumane by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the World Veterinary Organization, and the American Animal Hospital Association.
Animals suffer almost endless misery in the traps.
Oregon has one of the most lax trap-check laws in the country, with trappers required to visit the traps only every 48 hours, except for coyotes for whom there is no trap check requirement. Steel-jawed leghold traps are indiscriminate. They catch any animal that riggers them including protected species such as eagles, kit foxes, and family pets. These devices are like landmines for wildlife. Studies demonstrate that for every target animal caught in a trap, there are one to 10 non-target animals that fall victim to these devices.