As the warm days of summer roll along, many Americans set their sites on visiting one or more of the beautiful parks that make up our National Wildlife Refuge System. Families look forward to experiencing enjoyable activities like bike riding, hiking, bird watching, practicing photography and sea shell collecting, just to name a few.
But, as we walk along the shoreline or hike up into the rocky mountains, many of us are unaware of a sad reality that looms over the U.S. National Wildlife Refuge System.
For 60 years after their inception, these tranquil and lush settings were set aside as safe havens for the animals that made them their home.
Sadly, at the present time, more than 60% of all of the U.S. refuges DO allow destructive activities involving firearms, arrows and the deadly steel jaws of traps.
In actuality, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has strayed from its very own policy which, “directs that wildlife comes first in the National Wildlife Refuge System.”
Most Americans do not realize the following:
Trapping is allowed on 280 units – that is more than half of all of the refuges in the U.S.
Steel-jaw leghold traps are used on
