Harry Reid: “I applaud my friend, Mr. Torricelli, for bringing up this important amendment today. This amendment is very simple. It…”

“I applaud my friend, Mr. Torricelli, for bringing up this important amendment today. This amendment is very simple. It prohibits the expenditure of funds to administer or promote the use of steel-jawed leghold traps or neck snares on any unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System except for research subsistence, conservation, or facilities protection. This is a no-brainer. These traps are inhumane. They are designed to slam closed. The result is lacerations, broken bones, joint dislocations, and gangrene. Additional injuries result as the animal struggles to free himself, sometimes chewing off a leg or breaking teeth from chewing at the metal trap. An animal may be in a trap for several days before a trapper checks it. The American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Animal Hospital Association, and the World Veterinary Organization have all declared leghold traps to be inhumane. Our National Wildlife Refuges are the only category of federal land set aside for the protection and benefit of wildlife. It is inconceivable to me that, as a matter of federal policy, we allow recreational and commercial killing of wildlife on refuges with inhumane traps. This is not even a close call. These traps are so inhumane and indiscriminate that they have been banned altogether in 88 countries. Additionally, they have been banned in four of our United States: California, Arizona, Colorado, and Massachusetts. Other states impose restrictions on them.”