Portrait of Extinction
Ugandan wildlife rangers stand in front of pile of snares confiscated over a year in Murchison Falls national park.

Photograph: Adam Oswell/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

#photography
#wildlife
#Uganda
#snares

These barbaric devices include:

• Steel-jaw (leghold) #traps that clamp down with bone-crushing force

• #snares and cable restraints that strangle animals slowly

• Body-grip (#Conibear ) traps that crush the neck or chest

• Glue traps that cause panic, injury, and slow death

These methods are indiscriminate, outdated, and cause immense #suffering . Studies show that over 30% of #animals caught in so-called “killing traps” remain conscious and struggling long past humane limits.

3/3 🧵

@anna_lillith #Les #WildlifeServices, une agence du ministère américain de l'Agriculture(#USDA), tuent plus d'un million d'animaux sauvages chaque année, en grande partie pour l'industrie des #animaux d'élevage, par des moyens horribles tels que l'#empoisonnement, les #bombes au cyanure, les #snares au cou et même les tirs d'avion.

En fait, 36,5 % des activités de l'agence visent à "protéger l'#agriculture, y compris le #bétail, les #cultures en rangs, l'#aquaculture et le #bois ", et une grande partie de son budget de 286 millions de dollars est consacrée à la protection de l'environnement.

with 14,314 killed in 2023 compared to 364,734 in 2019.

According to the new data, the wildlife-killing program unintentionally killed more than 2,484 animals in 2023, including 658 river #otters and 428 #turtles, as well as several dogs and cats. Its killing of nontarget birds included a federally protected #GoldenEagle, #WoodDucks, great #BlueHerons and #WildTurkeys. Such data reveals the indiscriminate nature of leghold #traps, #snares, #poisons and other methods used by federal agents.

4/6

Because #snares don’t discriminate, “non-targeted” species — including #RiverOtters, #rabbits, and #birds — also end up dying in these monstrous #traps.

That’s a particularly important point given that the National Wildlife Refuge System is incredibly #biodiverse — with more than 700 birds, 220 mammals, and more than 380 #EndangeredSpecies.

The wild animals who call these protected lands their home should not be gruesomely and inhumanely killed simply because they exist.

3/4

conibear traps, and other “body gripping” #snares from these public lands.

“Over half of our nation’s 568 wildlife refuges still permit trapping, putting humans, companion animals, and endangered species at risk of severe injury,” said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, one of the bill’s sponsors. “It’s clear that these traps have no place on #ProtectedLands.”

Wild animals caught in traps will often do anything they can to escape and survive — including chewing off their own limbs.

2/4