The Wildlife and Environment Society of Southern Africa (Wessa) has added its voice to a call on government to ban gin traps, currently being used by farmers to trap ”vermin” on their properties.
The drive to ban the vicious trap — a sprung set of steel jaws with serrated teeth, designed to snap shut and crush an animal’s limb when triggered — is being led by the Suidpunt Environmental Alliance (Sea) in the Cape Agulhas area.
Sea has called on Environment Minister Valli Moosa to ban ”the barbaric gin trap, which annually maims and tortures countless animals, or condemns them to an agonising death”.
In a statement on Wednesday, Wessa quoted Sea chair Pierre Massyn as saying the gin trap was banned in most countries, but was ”still in constant use” in South Africa.
”You can buy a gin trap in any farmer’s co-op in South Africa. Farmers are using these traps to catch anything that is a ‘problem animal’ such as caracal, jackals and honey badgers.”
When set, a gin trap is often fastened to a heavy pole or log to prevent it from being dragged away by the trapped animal.
It works by snapping shut on an animal’s leg, crushing muscle and sinew and bone, and then pinioning the animal till it is shot dead, released or — in many cases — left to die of hunger or thirst, or its injuries.
Massyn said the gin trap was a ”barbaric instrument”.
”There is no control over the use or misuse of these things. And very often the farmer doesn’t have the time or inclination to check on his traps, so that the animal can be trapped in it for days or weeks, in agony, till it dies.
”We are sure that, if the minister was made aware of this widespread and unnecessarily cruel means of trapping animals, he would ban them immediately,” he said.
Wessa conservation director Cathy Kay said her organisation fully supported the call for a ban.
”There is no reason why they should be used, they are indiscriminate and needlessly cruel. Because they are so freely available, they are also often used by poachers,” she said. – Sapa