[The following article appeared in the Contra Costa County Veterinary Medical Associations's newsletter in the fall of 2000.]

CCVMA Asked to Help in Banning Body Crushing Traps in our County

There is a 4 county effort underway to ban the use of body-crushing traps. In 1998 an overwhelming majority of California voters passed Prop 4, which banned leghold and other body-crushing traps. However, the passage of Prop 4 (which was badly worded, with many loopholes) has not succeeded in ending the use of these traps, as the trappers are ignoring it and claiming it does not apply to them. Trappers continue to set traps alongside county roads and city streets, in parks and open fields, between residential houses and in public storm drains. These body-crushing traps do not discriminate between squirrels, raccoons, birds, endangered species, pets, or children, and they are used in our neighborhoods.

Prop 4 did one thing: It proved that an overwhelming majority of voters want these traps banned. It is now up to the cities and counties to ensure that the will of the voters is carried out, by creating local ordinances that ban the use of these traps within city/county borders.

Here is just one example of the problems out there. At Watergate Condominiums in Emeryville, the homeowners' assn. Manager hired trapper James Schmerker, who advertises in the Yellow Pages as "animal damage control" to set traps throughout the property without notifying the people who live there, endangering not only wildlife but adults, children, and pets. Even after 6-year-old Michael, a much-loved family cat, was crushed and killed in a trap, the traps were not removed. Dr. Marybeth Rymer, a CCVMA member, who lives at Watergate and found her cat crushed to death, said, "One evening a week later, several of us standing on the boardwalk helplessly watched in dismay as a screaming raccoon frantically fought a trap on his leg. As he stumbled across the boulders, he fell into the bay and drowned. We have also heard the heart-wrenching sounds of raccoons trapped and dying while sleeping at night." The traps were still not removed. Three months later, a number of people witnessed a trapped raccoon in the opening of a sidewalk storm drain next to a tennis court. One witness was missing two pet cats. When she asked the trapper and the Watergate Management about her pets, she was told "no cats have been killed."

In a Danville residential neighborhood, Mack Gardner at 112 Gerald Drive hired Schmerker to trap raccoons. On December 7, 1999 a woman walking her dog stopped to talk with Mr. Gardner. Her dog, Jimmy, wandered through an open gate and was injured, with his head caught in a trap, but was rescued before he died. The traps were not removed. Four days later, a 12-year-old cat, Soccer, was found by his family crushed to death.

On October 6, 1998 in a Concord residential neighborhood, another trapper was arrested for cruelty to an animal and reckless discharge of a firearm near Ayers Elementary School. Using a steel-jawed trap, he had trapped a raccoon at another location and had taken it to a field between his backyard and Ayers School. He released the raccoon so that he could shoot it with a scoped rifle. This was done during school hours with children present.

At the September Board meeting of CCVMA Marybeth Rymer will be asking the Board for formal support in banning these traps from CCVMA. The efforts will be directed at the county Board of Supervisors and local city governments. Leroy Moyer, Director of Voices For Pets, is at the helm of the group that is heading up this effort to notify local government leaders of the problem.

If you are opposed to CCVMA's potential support of this bill banning body-crushing traps, president Steve Atwater needs to hear from you. So far there hasn't been any opposition surfacing, but we are asking for it now before we proceed at the meeting on September 6th.

Contra Costa County Veterinary Medical Association
16 Santa Ana Place - Walnut Creek, CA 94598 - 925-935-2026 - FAX 925-906-0922

September 8, 2000

To Whom It May Concern;

The Contra Costa County Veterinary Medical Association supports the banning of leghold and body-crushing traps in our county and municipalities. We believe this was the intent of the voters with Prop. 4 and we support the will of the overwhelming majority of California voters that passed that law.

It is unfortunate that ambiguous wording has left loopholes for trappers and others who can set these inhumane and very dangerous devices where household pets and even children might find them only to be killed or horribly maimed.

It is our hope that a more humane way can be found to control the population of raccoons and other "urban wildlife."

We ask you to ban these devices from our county and municipalities.


Sincerely,

Steven Atwater, DVM
President, Contra Costa County Veterinary Medical Association
SA/mak