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California puts an end to fur trapping; Lawmaker calls the practice unnecessary, cruel and costly. Sahagun, Louis; Willon, Phil . Los Angeles Times ; Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif]05 Sep 2019:

A.1.

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FULL TEXT California has enacted a new ban on fur trapping for animal pelts, making it the first state to outlaw a centuries-old

livelihood that was intertwined with the rise of the Western frontier.

The Wildlife Protection Act of 2019, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday, prohibits commercial or

recreational trapping on both public and private lands.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), who introduced the legislation, said it was time to end fur

trapping. "It seems especially cruel, obviously, and it's just unnecessary and costly," she said.

Although commercial trapping was an early part of California's economy, opening the San Francisco Bay Area to

international commerce even before the 1848 California Gold Rush, its fortunes have waned over many decades.

Gonzalez said the roughly six dozen trappers still working in the state, down from more than 5,000 a century ago,

cannot afford to pay the full cost of implementing and regulating their industry.

The ban also comes as California lawmakers consider more aggressive measures to protect animals and wildlife,

often threatening age-old traditions.

Legislators are considering proposals to ban the sale of all fur products, including fur coats, and to outlaw the use

of animals in any circus in the state, with the exception of domesticated horses, dogs and cats.

"There's been a real change in attitudes about how we treat animals," Gonzalez said.

A total of 68 trappers reported killing 1,568 animals statewide in 2017, according to the California Department of

Fish and Wildlife. Among the 10 species reported taken were coyote, gray fox, beaver, badger and mink.

Trapped animals are strangled, shot or beaten to death, with care taken not to damage pelts before skinning them.

Under the law, using traps to catch gophers, house mice, rats, moles and voles would still be permitted.

The law followed a 2013 public outcry when conservationist Tom O'Key discovered a bobcat trap illegally set on

his property near the edge of Joshua Tree National Park.

O'Key stumbled upon the trap, chained to a jojoba bush and camouflaged with broken branches, just north of the

720,000-acre park, where the cats are a dominant force in the ecosystem.

He immediately alerted neighbors and contacted the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department and Hi-Desert

Star newspaper, triggering an angry tide of complaints that put a spotlight on the practice of trapping, killing and

skinning bobcats to supply fur markets in China, Russia and Greece.

"I could not have guessed in a million years," O'Key said in an interview, "that trap would spark an unstoppable

movement capable of shifting legislative thinking toward wildlife."

Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) pushed through his Bobcat Protection Act of 2013 in response to

petition drives, social media campaigns and telephone calls to lawmakers from wildlife advocates who decried

trapping and killing as a cruel trade.

Eight months after O'Key sounded the alarm in Joshua Tree, the California Fish and Game Commission voted 3 to 2

to ban commercial bobcat trapping statewide.

The Wildlife Protection Act of 2019 was backed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the nonprofit group

Social Compassion in Legislation, which spearheaded a recent bill that put an end to the sale of mill-bred dogs,

cats and rabbits.

Opponents included the California Farm Bureau Federation, which warned that the bill, if passed, could have

significant economic consequences for the agriculture industry.

The trapping industry declined over decades in California.

Before California's population ballooned to roughly 40 million people, fur trapping played a significant role in the

extirpation of wolves and wolverines and the severe declines of sea otters, fishers, martens, beavers and other fur-

bearing species.

Over the last two decades, animal protectionists have partnered with mainstream environmental groups to put

pressure on state and federal wildlife authorities, and to take their animal-cruelty concerns to voters. Trappers are

anachronistic, they said, and their snares subject wildlife to horrific suffering.

"The signing of this bill into law is the result of compelling data and a change of heart in public opinion regarding

animal cruelty," said Judie Mancuso, founder and president of Social Compassion in Legislation.

Caption: PHOTO: BOBCATS near Joshua Tree National Park in 2013, the year the state banned trapping them. A

new law prohibits trapping any fur-bearing mammal for pelts.

PHOTOGRAPHER:Annica Kreuters DETAILS

Subject: Animals; Legislation; Trapping; National parks; Wildlife conservation

Location: San Francisco Bay San Bernardino County California Russia Greece China California

People: Newsom, Gavin

Company / organization: Name: Center for Biological Diversity; NAICS: 813312; Name: Joshua Tree National

Park; NAICS: 712190; Name: Sheriff-Coroner Department-San Bernardino County CA;

NAICS: 922120

Identifier / keyword: CALIFORNIA LEGISLATION FURS TRAPPING WILDLIFE CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Publication title: Los Angeles Times; Los Angeles, Calif.

Pages: A.1

Publication year: 2019

Publication date: Sep 5, 2019

Dateline: SACRAMENTO

Section: Main News; Part A; Local Desk

Publisher: Tribune Interactive, LLC

Place of publication: Los Angeles, Calif.

Country of publication: United States, Los Angeles, Calif.

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Publication subject: General Interest Periodicals--United States

ISSN: 04583035

Source type: Newspapers

Language of publication: English

Document type: News

ProQuest document ID: 2284370563

Document URL: http://proxy.library.cpp.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/228437

0563?accountid=10357

Copyright: Copyright Los Angeles Times Sep 5, 2019

Last updated: 2019-09-05

Database: Los Angeles Times