Canadian trappers ahead of the game

Page R3

Trappers don't want to be left out in the cold - at least not without their new quick-kill traps.

As of January 1, 1995, an act by the European Economic Community will come into effect that bans the import of wild fur into Europe from any country that continues to use leghold traps or does not trap according to international humane standards. Currently 80 per cent of the wild fur trapped in Canada is exported to Europe.

Alan Herscovici, author of "Second Nature: The Animal Rights Controversy", believes the European community's (EC) regulations are a carry over of the sealing ban.

"After the sealing ban was completed, they turned it on fur and they managed to push for legislation for leghold traps," said Herscovici, who is a longtime writer of the fur industry."

"The idea behind standards is to have usable standards, the best possible. We need to make sure the local trapper associations are aware of these things so they can get the considerable retraining that is required with the new traps," he added.

Doug Stewart is the director of Conservation, Education and Resource Development for Renewable Resources in Yellowknife, NWT. He feels very confident that Canada will have no difficulty in complying with the ECs 1995 regulations.

"We've had trapper training programs territory-wide including the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, for the last number of years. We've held training specifically to the new types of trap for the last four years."

"We've spent considerable time training Aboriginal trappers as instructors to put on workshops and they're rehired across the territories. To date, we've trained 2,000 trappers across the NWT. As part of the workshops, we provide trappers with the new traps to take with them to do the trap exchange. The traps we're providing have been through major research," Stewart said.

He described the difference in the old and the new traps.

"With the leghold, the animal usually succumbs fairly quickly in the cold, it's designed as limb holding device. The forerunner to the quick-kill was the Conibear trap. The animals enters the trap and it's designed so the trap closes at the base of the skull, it snaps the neck basically. It's an extremely strong, quick death.

"The new traps are like the Conibears but they have two springs instead of one and a reinforced striking bar so there is an increased compact on the animals neck. These traps are so strong that we want the trapper to attend the workshops before they use them. If they bring in their legholds, we give them the new quick kills."

Alan Niptanatiak is a trapper in Coppermine that was picked by Renewable Resources to lead the workshops after he had been using the Conibear trap for 12 years.

"The workshop basically gave me the paperwork so I could pass on my knowledge. For them, I went on to be contracted out by Renewable Resources to do the workshops," said Niptanatiak. "I've trained around 21 trappers in Cambridge Bay and close to 80 in Coppermine. I'm going after the old-time trappers first. I taught them first and got them to exchange their traps and then I went to the younger generation, the part-time trappers says Niptanatiak.

Niptanatiak adds that the quick kills traps make for a better quality of pelts.

"What I find is that the leghold traps demand the pelts. The animal may drag the leghold around for a few days if it's not cold enough for them to die and they urinate on the fur. They get pretty damaged. With the quick kill, the animals are dead in a few minute so the pelts stay nice and clean so there's no damage."