CHAPTER IV 



18 FUR TRAPPING CRUEL 



Ever so often some one will start a campaign against trapping 

 on account of the cruelty to the animal. Every trapper knows 

 that there is more cruelty among wild animals themselves, than 

 there is on the part of man. It is the trapper's desire to kill the 

 animal, and not merely to catch it. If an animal caught in a trap 

 remains there too long, its pelt is liable to be damaged to 

 such an extent that he is not paid for his trouble. All argu- 

 ment to the contrary, trapping is very hard work. The modern 

 trapper uses traps or tries to set his traps in such a manner that 

 they kill instantly. As one authority has pointed out there is 

 hardly such a thing as natural death in wild life. It is a constant 

 battle and the weak and the old fall victims to the strong. One 

 kind will prey upon another. Man is the most merciful of any of 

 the creatures and has no desire to see any wild thing suffer. As 

 a matter of fact he makes his plans and sets his traps in such a manner 

 as to cause little suffering on the part of the animal caught. But 

 not so with the animal's natural enemies. The hawk will pounce 

 upon the young rabbit, snatch it up in its claws and fly away with 

 it for miles to feast upon it in some tree top. The weasel will attack 

 and kill for the love of killing and will oftentimes leave its victim 

 crippled and bleeding and go on in search of another. The pro- 

 fessional trapper and the boy in the country who lives outdoors 

 studies animal life, he knows their habits, when they come and go; 

 he knows their dens, he knows what they feed on, and how they get 

 their food, he does not kill the young, and he does not knowingly 

 destroy the females. Most men who follow the trap line are big 

 hearted, wholesome, out-of-doors kind of people who have a real 

 love and affection for animals such as raccoon and opossum and 

 despise the wolf only because it is deadly cruel to the weaker animals. 

 There is constant warfare going on in wild animal life at all times. 

 If the theory of some over sensitive people was carried out we 

 would have no slaughter houses and we would probably all be- 

 come vegetarians. It is hardly fair to say that it is more cruel 

 to trap a mink and kill it than to lead the innocent lamb to 



