FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 15, 2006
Contact: PAUL PERILLIE, MAJORITY CAUCUS AIDE -- #(631) 854-4500

Stopping Inhumane Trapping Dead in Its Tracks
Cooper Takes Action to Ban Canine-Killing Steel Animal Traps

This morning, Suffolk County Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Huntington) gathered with animal activists and pet owners from across Long Island to announce yesterday’s unanimous passage of his resolution that seeks to ban inhumane trapping methods throughout Suffolk County. Outraged by the tragic death in December of a beloved, 3-year-old mixed breed dog named Zephyr —who was crushed by the jaws of a steel animal trap while hiking with his owner in a local nature preserve — Cooper and other county legislators took action to help ensure that other family pets and wildlife don’t befall the same horrific fate.

Cooper’s memorializing resolution seeks to bolster support for two bills at the state level that would grant counties the ability to restrict or ban inhumane trapping within their borders. Despite being introduced early in Albany’s legislative calendar last year, both initiatives (S.2142 and A.1835) continue to be stalled in committee.

Belinda Mager, New York Public Relations Manager for The Humane Society of the United States, says, "Lawmakers must have the right to protect the citizens they serve from the dangers of leghold and body-gripping traps which frequently and painfully kill or maim many non-target animals, as well as those they are intended to capture. Moreover, in densely populated regions such as Suffolk County, such devices are a looming menace to humans, particularly children. Suffolk County's proactive legislators have taken a significant stand on behalf of their citizens' welfare as well as that of animals."

Given that trapping in New York goes back 500 years to its very founding as a Dutch colony and that there are still up to 10,000 people in the state actively laying traps, it’s probably not surprising that passage faces an uphill battle. What is most disturbing is how despite the development of more humane "Havahart traps" that simply capture the animal in an enclosed steel wire box, most trappers continue use the horrible, limb-snaring models whose technology is 300 years old. Cooper is confident that, if given the opportunity to decide for itself, Suffolk County would ban steel-jaw leghold traps and body-gripping traps. These cruel trapping methods have already been banned or severely restricted by nine states in the U.S. as well as by nearly 90 nations around the world.

"The use of any type of trap whether leg, body or otherwise is an outdated and cruel method of killing any animal and cannot be made acceptable under the guise of conservation or pest control," says Amy Chaitoff, Legal Consultant for the Little Shelter Animal Rescue & Adoption Center in Huntington.

Back in 1986, Suffolk’s Legislature approved legislation prohibiting the use of steel-jaw leghold traps. Unfortunately, that law was overturned in 1990 when the state sued Suffolk County for trying to supercede its jurisdiction. Although current Suffolk law does prohibit the placing of leghold traps on county parklands, that law does not extend to private, municipal or state owned properties, like the kind where Zephyr and his owner Gail Murphy were hiking.

"I grew up less than a mile from where Zephyr was killed and as a child, I camped in the Long Pond Greenbelt," reflects Murphy. "Now, because of an individual's blatant disrespect for nature and the community, I will never again truly be at peace walking through those woods. On Sunday, December 11th, nobody heard my cry. Today, I am grateful to all people who are listening and ready to help."

Hearing of how Zephyr’s untimely demise came about brought Cooper back thirty years to his very first foray into the battlefield of public policy. While an undergraduate at North Carolina's Duke University, Cooper first became outraged at the use of such torturous devices. That led him to form the National Committee for Humane Trapping to spearhead statewide efforts to outlaw steel leghold traps.

Cooper actually got a NC state legislator to sponsor a bill. After two years of effort, and despite the vehement opposition of the state’s powerful trapping lobby, some restrictions on trapping were ultimately enacted. However, the proposed total ban on leghold traps was defeated.

"As soon as I heard about what happened to Zephyr, that whole battle came back to me, " Cooper remembers.

"I might not have been successful in banning steel leghold traps back in my college days, but along with the passing of the years and the coming of my grey hairs, I’ve also developed some tenacity," says Cooper. "While I am grateful for yesterday’s victory, I will not give up until these barbaric devices are outlawed in Suffolk County."