U.S. Government Fox Bait

If you want to fully understand the difference between the U.K. and the U.S. when it comes to wild lands and wildlife management, take a tour of the various State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) web sites.

For example, consider this pamphlet entitled North Dakota Furtakers Educational Manual, put out by the North Dakota Game & Fish Department and available on line from the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (part of the USGS).

The table of contents is as follows:

• Trapping Ethics
• Fur Management
• The History of the Fur Trade in North Dakota
• Steps of a Trapper
• Traps and Equipment
• Trap Preparation
• Mink
• Raccoon
• Muskrat
• Skunk
• Badger
• Beaver
• Red Fox
• Coyote
• Bobcat
• Draw Baits and Attracters
• Snaring
• Care of Pelts
• Correct Way to Measure Blanket Beaver
• Conclusion

In the U.K. they have banned all trapping, and instead of collecting taxes from trappers, they pay their government to go out and pump poison gas down tens of thousands of badger settes in order to control brucellosis Bovine Tuberculosis.

Here in the U.S., we regulate and license hunting and trapping with real seasons, bag limits, and a solid tradition of habitat protection. In fact, most states that have legal trapping actually produce manuals on how to trap (as does the National Audubon Society).

And what helpful hint does North Dakota Furtakers Educational Manual suggest for trapping red fox? Just this:

SUGGESTED BAITS: Fresh or tainted flesh such as rabbits, mice, ground squirrels, birds, etc.; partly decomposed flesh of house cats, fish, woodchucks, mice or small mammals.

Imagine DEFRA in the U.K. suggesting baiting a leghold trap for fox with a bit of "partly decomposed flesh of house cats!"

• Related Links:
  ** Cover of the Maryland 2008-2009 DNR Guide
  ** U.S. Trapping Data
  ** Otter Ironies
  ** The Collarum, Humane Canine Capture Trap
  ** Raccoon Biological History
  ** New $5 Fur Bearer Permit Required in Maryland
  ** More Than 100,000 Active Trappers in the U.S.
  ** Releasing Your Dog From a Trap
  ** Animals Rights Loons Developed the Dog-lethal Trap
  ** In Maryland Fox Chasing Is Not Hunting
  ** The Red Flag of Lunacy
  ** Urban Fox Now a Problem in London
  ** Cowbirds, Mesopredators, & Grass Nesting Birds
  ** Modern Scientific Trapping
  . .