Accipiter (R. Altenkamp, Berlin), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in approving of the Madison city council’s ban on declawing cats; and also in telling the council that so long as it does not ban the use of leghold traps—as has been done in many parts of the civilized world—the council and all Madison citizens are part of the cruel and unbelievable indifference that not only permits but encourages the use of leghold traps.
On the basis of his ignorant farm boy experience of running a trapline on the way to country school, the keeper is painfully aware of the incredible pain and suffering of wild creatures as they try to escape, even chewing off their own paws. That it took him so long to sort through the obvious morality of the “sport,” of trapping does not make for proud keeper moments.
The issue of leghold traps has been brought before legislative committees for many years, even back when the keeper’s identity included that of outdoor writer; and he had finally recognized the unconscionable nature of leghold trapping. A regular at those hearings would demonstrate with a small leghold trap how allegedly painless they were by allowing the trap to snap on his tough workman hand. The keeper remembers telling the trapper that his so-called painless point would be more forcefully made if he would let the trap snap shut on his genitalia.
During the recent autumn trapping season and on into the winter, thousands of Wisconsin animals—muskrats, mink, foxes, coyotes, bobcat, wolves and others have been baited into trapping sets and suffered unimaginable pain in their desperate efforts to get free. It is still going on as this is written. The leghold traps also get an occasional dog and even a few cats.
A number of states and 80 some countries have made leghold traps illegal; it would seem to be an obvious move in a community that likes to consider itself enlightened and sees fit to protect cats’ claws.
