A while back, I reported on a trapping ban instituted by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in the state’s gray wolf recovery area. The ban was placed and extended with the a stipulation that a study would be performed to evaluate trapping’s potential impacts to wolves.
That study is now underway, with research being conducted by the University of New Mexico.
Most trappers and wildlife researchers should already be aware that impacts due to trapping are minimal, especially given the fact that professional biologists use the foothold trap to capture and release wolves for research purposes and introduction into new areas.
If the study is done in an unbiased manner and results are interpreted correctly, I suspect it will show that most current trapping methods would have no impacts to the wolf population.
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