GWA's Position on Public Land Trapping/Snaring:

The Gallatin Wildlife Association (GWA) has been advocating for wildlife since the organization’s inception since July 1976. Founded as a wildlife conservation organization who also supported the hunting community, GWA has been silent on the detailed issues of trapping for decades. By not taking an official position, some believed GWA kept the peace among hunters within the membership, fearing there would be some overlapping interests within the hunting/trapping community. There may have been a certain amount of truth in that belief as a few GWA members, at least one knowingly board member, were at times active trappers during their lifetime.

But times have changed, board members have changed, and societal pressures have changed as well. Although technically and scientifically speaking, these outside influences perhaps should not directly guide GWA’s policy, it is only natural that they do. Like any other organization, we are nothing more than a collective of citizens who are working for a common cause, in our case - wildlife preservation. It only makes sense that our policies would reflect the membership and board members at large.

However, to be honest, other beliefs were and are at play. As an organization that tries to adhere to the best available science, the science in support of trapping is sparse. This is especially true when you consider recreational or commercial trapping. We are making a delineated difference between those efforts related to scientific data collection for research, etc. and those espousing recreational or commercial trapping. Lately, the state legislature, in efforts to promote the latter upon public lands of Montana has highlighted the whole issue of trapping in a different public light. Montana politicos have pushed for greater leniency on trapping, and they do so for a variety of reasons. Several in the state legislature are trying to legislate wildlife management through trapping, and when they do, they politicize the whole subject matter of wildlife management.

Many of the efforts to liberalize the state’s trapping laws and regulations can be attributed to the efforts of the 2021 and 2023 state legislature. Efforts were promoted by self-interest groups, by those desiring to achieve goals representing only a small segment of society, goals that are unpopular with the vast majority of the state’s residents. And yet they did so because they are groups who have control over the state’s political power structure. Wielding power as they do, individual legislators who want to control or even reduce wildlife populations, especially known predators such as wolves have been able to pass legislation and get it signed into law by the Governor of Montana.

Such action has forced the hand of GWA into action, for not only are these attempts unscientific in their origin or purpose, but they also violate the goals and purpose of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. GWA believes these actions are antithetical to the purposes and goals of GWA as well.

For as long as trapping has been a thing, there has most likely been those in society, like all societies, whereby there was opposition to trapping. If for nothing else, they opposed the practice based upon its cruelty and brutality. Trapping has been described in many terms, most of which we don’t need to go into detail here for they are a description of an act, an act that removes an individual animal from its resident population. But what is critical, if one values morality, ethics, is that trapping is indiscriminate, a term GWA believes is highly valuable to use in our opposition.

Even though trapping is indiscriminate, an argument which should hold sway or value in our many discussions of the day, it appears it does not, at least not for those in political power. Yet in the scientific world, there is no argument, no rationale for indiscriminate killing. Interestingly enough, GWA believes this is one example whereby science and morality can align themselves into a formidable argument, an argument by which commercial and recreational trapping has no redeemable qualities.

And so here we are, spring of 2024, GWA has decided to take an anti-trapping position, and we do so for the following reasons.

1.) Trapping is being used as a political weapon to delineate exceptions in wildlife management. The latest example of this was the recent listing of the wolverine under protections of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Even though the USFWS allowed the wolverine to be listed as a protected species, they also allowed an exemption for trapping under the 4(d) Rule, a rule allowed within the ESA providing for the incidental take of wolverine due to trapping.

GWA strongly disagrees with this exception. There should be no “incidental take” exception for trapping of wolverine or any other species if the species is truly indeed threatened or endangered. This makes bad precedent, but more than that, an incidental take option still provides occurrences, an excuse if you will, that trapping can still exist under a false pretense. This is a dangerous assumption. The incidental take of a species can still be harmful and should not be taken lightly, especially if a species has low population numbers and density. The removal of one individual animal can make a difference.

2.) Trapping should not be used as a methodology or practice to reduce population numbers, period. It is an unscientific and inefficient mechanism to control a state’s population numbers, no matter what the species.

The state legislature should not include trapping into laws or manufacture regulations through the legislative process to manage wildlife. This removes power and authority from the Montana State Fish and Wildlife Commission and makes it harder for removal (if necessary) as well as politicizes state wildlife management overall. In today’s scenario, these laws are basically a result of the minority overstepping their bounds and trying to impose a minority viewpoint over the majority of the state’s citizens. Legislators generally do not have the biological or scientific background to originate such legislation and if they do, they generally have ulterior motives for introducing such legislation.

3.) The nature of “incidental take” is reason enough to discount this practice. The action of trapping is unscientific and inefficient in that it places incidental take victims as collateral damage. This also violates the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and creates unnecessary death and removal of species from its natural habitat. This serves as a mechanism to harm biological integrity and biodiversity for no purpose.

4.) But one of the more important reasons for GWA to become anti-trapping is based upon the simple reasoning – not to do so would be hypocritical. For it would be wrong to say on one hand – GWA is a voice for Wildlife” yet be silent or support trapping on the other. GWA does not believe it is possible to hold both positions at the same time. If you have doubts, just ask the animal that was recently trapped.

The brutality and cruelty of trapping is real and truly holds no place in a modern society where we support the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Trapping is not a fair chase. It violates several other principles of the North American Model of Conservation in numerous ways.

5.) Trapping provides an unnecessary danger to public lands, to the public citizenry, and to their pets.

As a result, a board member proposed the following proposal:

“GWA is opposed to all trapping of any species of native wildlife on all public lands and is opposed to trapping of species listed as endangered or threatened on all lands.”

This proposal was voted on and passed in April 2024 unanimously. During a GWA board discussion of May 13, 2024, it was proposed and clarified that this position statement does not apply to trapping being conducted for scientific research. Our anti-trapping position applies to commercial and recreational trapping only. 

To summarize our position in one or two sentences:

“GWA opposes all forms of recreational and commercial trapping/snaring of any species of native wildlife on all public lands and opposes all forms of recreational and commercial trapping/snaring of any and all endangered or threatened species on all lands, private and public.”

NOTE: While this document and explanation focuses specifically on trapping in this write up, please be assured our rationale for being in opposition to snaring is equitable to that of trapping. The hardware used is obviously different, but the purpose, the methodology, and the results are still the same.