LETTER: Allow conscience to decide vote on trapping horror

Montana voters will soon have the rare privilege to reduce suffering on public lands and help end trapping’s shameful legacy of virtual torture across the Montana commons. I-177 is a citizen drafted initiative that will limit recreational trapping on public land.

Please read the initiative for yourself. Contrary to claims, it protects private property rights. And any rancher who leases public lands for grazing can still trap predators if more modern, less lethal methods are ineffective.

Against all evidence, trappers claim that trapping is humane. But videos of animals found in traps, and other verifiable accounts reveal a story of animals so traumatized that they break off teeth, tear open their mouths, dislocate limbs, gnaw wildly at their bodies and chew off legs to free themselves. The graphics are disturbing, but a simple internet search will sadly confirm this horror.

Traps not only threaten wild animals, but they are also land mines endangering companion animals in public areas. A few years ago, my wife and I were skiing on a Forest Service road behind our farm when we experienced a life-changing event: Our neighbor cradling her beloved dog in her arms. Buddy’s lifeless body had a conibear trap clamped tightly around his head. Liz’s hands were bruised and bloody from trying to remove it. This perfectly legal trap was just a few feet from a popular ski trail. I-177 would have prevented Buddy’s horrific death and Liz’s brokenhearted grief.

In many respects, we humans face two choices in life: We can bring our actions into harmony with conscience and love, or we can close our eyes to the entreaties of conscience in order to continue to live without compassionate restraint. I intend to vote for I-177. How could the horror of trapping not register in my conscience? —Bob Muth Sr., Kalispell