They victimize any animal unfortunate enough to trigger them. Animals caught include protected species such as eagles, kit foxes, fishers, and wolverines, as well as family pets. The selectivity of leghold traps has been documented in studies conducted by The International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies in 21 states. Leghold traps are live-capture restraining devices that experience minimal injury rates, and allow release of captured animals. Over 4,000 river otter captured predominately in leghold traps have been released in reintroduction projects in 18 states .
Traps pose no realistic threat to human safety.
An exhaustive investigation of trapping incidents in the U.S. during the last twenty years could only document 3 cases of injury to the public that resulted from regulated trapping. All of these injuries were considered minor. There are no bag limits and no limits on the number of traps that can be set. Trapping activity is driven by the price of pelts, not by the need to manage wildlife populations. The professional wildlife conservation community universally endorses traps and trapping as critical and essential wildlife management tools.