Call to end trapping, snaring in P.E.I. gains momentum
A group in P.E.I. that says it has been hearing from residents about numerous incidents where pets are trapped in traps and snares across the province is continuing to urge the provincial government to ban all trapping.
Rene Lombard and
Debbie Travers, organizers of the group, spoke to the legislative standing committee on natural resources and environmental sustainability on May 2 to present information they have gathered from their petition to ban snaring and trapping in P.E.I.
Lombard said while there aren’t many stories in the media of pets being trapped in snares, their talks with Islanders reveal a different story, with their petition getting more than 2,300 signatures from people across the province.
“In our interactions with the public, we met with many, many, many people who had pets killed in snares or traps,” Lombard told the committee. “The problem is far more widespread than what is reported in the media.”
The petition calls to end regulated commercial trappings as well as leisure trapping, except for Indigenous practices.
The petition started in 2022 when Travers’ dog, Caspie, died in an illegal snare put on her family's property.
Travers said it wasn't the first time illegal snares were placed on her property. Just recently she found 20 rabbit snares there. When Caspie died because of the snare,
Travers spoke with the person setting them up and was told he did it because neighbours were worried about coyotes on the property.
“They used to be quite regular because they were going across the road for the rabbits standing by the shore. But it's been about five years since I've seen a coyote or even a fox right across my property,”
Travers said at the meeting.
ALTERNATIVES
Lombard has often heard that banning trapping and snaring could lead to coyotes overrunning P.E.I., but she said this isn't true based on what she's learned from experts as part of organizing the petition.
The information Lombard presented to the meeting on May 2 was gathered from various experts in fields like ecology and wildlife. She has learned that coyotes are territorial creatures, so usually only one family lives in the area around a farm.
“And when you actually kill that family or disturb that family structure, you will find that the next season … higher rates of livestock killing. And that's because coyotes from other territories that have not been conditioned to divert away from the livestock will come in and kill the livestock,” she said.
“So it's important to actually make your coyote family part of the ecosystem of your farm.”
There are alternative methods to keep coyotes away from farms without killing them, she said. For instance, in many areas, farmers use guard llamas, donkeys or Pyrenees
dogs to deter coyotes from approaching livestock.
She also suggested effective strategies like properly disposing of dead animals on the farm.
“If a carcass is near where the livestock is kept, the smell of that decomposition will bring in coyotes or other canines from kilometres away,” Lombard said.
A GOOD START
When asked by MLA Matt Macfarlane from Bordenkinkora about the group's priorities among the presented items, Lombard said, “a ban on snares would be a start.”
She pointed out places like Wales, where the use of snares or glue traps is now illegal.
“If we had to pick something, I would say snares would have to go,” she said.
Before the meeting began, the group organized a rally outside the Honourable George Coles Building to raise awareness about wildlife and animal rights. Speaking with Saltwire at the rally, Lombard said she hopes the committee will thoroughly consider the information presented by the group and consult with the experts and specialists the group has spoken with.
“We don't think that it'll be something that will just be a one-meeting thing,” she said.