It’s that time of year when animal trappers post graphic pictures and videos on social media of various species of wildlife frantically struggling in traps before they are killed. Often the trappers take selfies with themselves posed in front of doomed and desperate animals moments before they bludgeon or shoot them to death.
Many Vermonters have had a pet injured or killed by a steel-jawed leghold or conibear (body–gripping) trap or know someone whose pet has suffered that fate. Trappers are not required to report take of “non-target” animals such as pets like cats and dogs. Trappers are also not required to use signage to mark where their traps are set nor are they required to set traps back off trails. Sadly, trapping is allowed on public lands, in highly populated areas and even national wildlife refuges.
Trapping is a relic from the past that causes untold pain and suffering to countless species of animals, including dogs, cats, birds and endangered and protected wildlife. Trappers are required to check traps every 24 hours, but this is difficult to monitor and enforce. During those 24 hours, animals suffer from hypothermia, exhaustion, predation, blood loss and broken bones and teeth (from trying to escape).
Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is supporting a trapper’s petition to extend otter trapping season, a decision that it acknowledges on its website will adversely affect birthing mothers, and in spite of hundreds of objections from Vermonters. Please contact your legislators and ask them to support trapping reform. Also ask them to force the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department to listen to all Vermonters, not just those who profit from the indiscriminate and barbaric trapping of our wildlife. For more information please visit protectourwildlifevt.org.
Lucy Goodrum Reading, Vt.
In an article about a second contaminated well (“Dartmouth: Rennie Farm Contamination Has Spread to Second Well,” Oct. 12), Jim Wieck, Dartmouth’s lead environmental contractor for the Rennie Farm cleanup said, “This is a serious surprise. Based on the data we had, it really didn’t look like it (the plume) was going that way.”
“That way” was a mile in another direction from where they were looking and uphill, according to the homeowner who described the topography of her property. Weick correctly stated there is no definitive way to control or track the spread … basically of any liquid contaminants along bedrock fractures because it isn’t possible to identify where all the fractures are.
I am as horrified as the affected neighbors near the sites to find out about Dartmouth’s (and previously CRREL’s) contamination of our water. But it also gives us an opportunity to understand the vexing engineering problem in the context of why fracking, and the transport of fossil fuels, are so dangerous. People living distances from fracked sites have been complaining for more than a decade that they and their livestock have been sickened. This is one of the reasons why Native Americans and allies are fighting to keep the pipeline off their land, because they will inevitably leak (please join their battle, #NODAPL).
The oil and gas industries want people to believe that fracking is harmless and that it is an inexpensive bridge fuel to wean us off of our oil dependence. I hope people think again about how the industry’s very profitable ventures affect our precious water.
Nature has no boundaries.
Sharon Racusin Norwich
America at Its Best
On Veterans Day, I was fortunate to attend a ceremony at the small Albert Bridge School in Brownsville, Vt. Over a dozen veterans were the invited guests who were made to feel most welcome. The students sang patriotic songs, displayed the flags of the branches of the service while their song played, read a tribute to a family member killed in action and presented the guest honorees with certificates of appreciation delivered by an earnest young man who very nicely shook hands with the veterans after delivering the certificate.
It was small town America at its best. God bless America.
Margaret Hofmann West Lebanon
Feeling Burned
My sincere thanks to Sen. Bernie Sanders for his overwhelming help in electing Donald Trump. I also want to thank him for helping the Republicans keep control of the House and Senate. And I want to thank him for helping the Republicans pick the next three Supreme Court Justices.
By running hard against Hillary Clinton, he allowed Trump to use his words against Clinton: “She has bad judgment.” He caused her to spend millions and millions of dollars for ads against him, instead of Donald Trump. He assured that millions of young Democrats would not vote.
Without Sanders’ “help,” Hillary Clinton would have had an easy campaign, and would have had a landslide victory. We are forever indebted to Bernie Sanders.
Rick Nelson White River Junction
Has anyone else noticed the uncanny resemblance between the pudgy little brat at the bottom of the comics page and the president-elect?
Brian C. CainSharon