Opinion ID: 779503
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Trappers' Claims

Text: 12 The plaintiff-intervenor trappers consist of both trapper associations and individual trappers. The associations are devoted to the welfare of their members and to the promotion of conservation techniques in the management of fur-bearing animals. Members of the associations trap within California and engage in interstate commerce in furs. Individual trappers have privately trapped with leghold traps; engaged in interstate commerce in furs; used leghold traps to protect crops and livestock; worked as trappers for Animal Damage Control (under the USDA); and trapped as independent contractors for the state to protect levees. 13 On April 2, 1999, the district court granted the trappers' motion to intervene in Audubon's suit. In addition to challenging subsection 3003.1(c), the trappers challenged subsection (a)—banning the use of body-gripping traps for the purposes of recreation or commerce in fur—and subsection (b)—banning the purchase, sale, or exchange of raw fur from animals trapped in California using body-gripping traps. Specifically, the trappers contended that those subsections violate the Commerce Clause; that Proposition 4's misleading ballot material violated due process; and that Proposition 4 is pre-empted by the ESA, MBTA, and ADCA. The trappers also sought declaratory and injunctive relief.