As a part of our Peaceful Coexistence education effort we are adopting a position opposing trapping of wildlife for the convenience of man.

What is the problem?

All of the available natural habitat on the planet is full to capacity with all of the wildlife it can support. Wild animals are learning to adapt to the only habitat left and in this country that is the urban jungle.

• We destroy their homes (trees), and they use our attics.
• We divert and disrupt their water sources (creeks and rivers), and they use our swimming pools and water features.
• We poison, trap, and pave over their food sources, and they eat our gardens and pets.

After all of this devastation we inflict, we are not willing to allow our wild cousins to exist alongside us. We somehow believe it is our right to expect the planet to conform to our wishes and only allow wildlife to exist outside our urban jungles. Perhaps someday we will be able to walk outside and never see another animal. That will be the day that the earth is dying.

Why is this a problem?

Historically, rehabilitators have accepted trapped wildlife from licensed trappers in order to ensure the animals are not killed. This merely enables the trappers to make money off of our generosity and continue an unnecessary practice that only serves to perpetuate the trapping business. Every time they trap an animal, the remaining members of that species in that area will over breed to fill the gap that the trapper created, thus compounding the numbers for future trapping. This is not the answer.

In many cases, a trapper will tell a client that they humanely trap, rehabilitate and release any young animals that are trapped. But what they don’t tell you is that when they do catch a young animal, most call a rehabilitator and ask that we take the babies. They charge a great deal of money for trapping the animals, and then expect us to raise and release them for free. In general, trappers hire out to trap virtually any wild animal that anyone wants removed from their property or their neighborhood. 

AWARE’s Position

This practice has to stop and AWARE intends to lead the way to a new understanding on the part of the public. AWARE will no longer participate by enabling trappers and misinformed homeowners. Our goal is to educate the public and municipalities to the realization that these wild animals have nowhere else to go and they represent no real threat to humans. As a pro-active measure we will not be accepting animals from trappers that they have unnecessarily trapped. 

Want to learn more?

• Peaceful Coexistence Campaign
• Living with Urban Wildlife

Having trouble with wildlife in your area?