It sounds to me like this Fur Trappers group has abandoned leghold traps (the ones usually cited as cruel) in favor of more humane ones. Insofar as it is sometimes necessary to trap animals, and to the extent that it is done in the most humane manner possible, I don't necessarily have a problem with a group whose purpose is trapping animals. Better to have an advocacy group that promotes humane methods than to drive all trapping activity underground where the traditional cruel methods would still be used.
But I do have a problem with the group calling themselves *Fur* Trappers, since the name suggests trapping animals to kill them and use their fur. I'm ambivalent at best about raising animals on farms for their fur; in some ways this is no different in principle from raising animals for food, but food is a necessity whereas fur is a vanity item. I'm opposed in virtually all cases to trapping wild animals for their fur.
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It sounds to me like this Fur Trappers group has abandoned leghold traps (the ones usually cited as cruel) in favor of more humane ones. Insofar as it is sometimes necessary to trap animals, and to the extent that it is done in the most humane manner possible, I don't necessarily have a problem with a group whose purpose is trapping animals. Better to have an advocacy group that promotes humane methods than to drive all trapping activity underground where the traditional cruel methods would still be used.
But I do have a problem with the group calling themselves *Fur* Trappers, since the name suggests trapping animals to kill them and use their fur. I'm ambivalent at best about raising animals on farms for their fur; in some ways this is no different in principle from raising animals for food, but food is a necessity whereas fur is a vanity item. I'm opposed in virtually all cases to trapping wild animals for their fur.