These laws also do not specifically grant an exemption to federal trappers but none of them have been challenged in court. The HSUS's initiative in Massachusetts, ironically, was co-sponsored by Massachusetts Audubon. The national Audubon Society's objection to the California statute has widened considerably since the campaign. Going beyond the issue of endangered species, the injunction against Prop. 4 now seeks to extend the use of leghold traps to protect birds under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The MBTA protects a huge number of birds that are neither threatened nor endangered.
Migratory birds are at critical risk.
It is critical that they don't get endangered. But in this belated concern for migratory birds, ProPAW detects the footprints of the hunters who joined Audubon's lawsuit. That's why we see the California Waterfowl Association in on this lawsuit. They want to get rid of all the predators so we can be the predator. The effect will be to allow the use of the leghold trap to benefit hunters, not birds.