We have a huge #JEER for the appalling news that South Dakota residents will once again be allowed to place live traps on public lands for extended dates this summer. The Game Fish and Parks department approved the date extension and has increased the amount of animals allowed to be trapped, killed, and have their tails cut off to 50,000.

Already, over 22,000 animals such as raccoons, opossums, red foxes and badgers have been caught and killed by traps in the state with trappers receive a $10 bounty for every animal tail turned in.

Killing programs like this barbaric, state-sponsored trapping bounty hunt are cruel, out-dated and simply do not work. A recent study in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment found that there’s little scientific evidence that killing predators actually accomplishes the goal of protecting other species.

These killing programs are ineffective and only serve as a way to reward and encourage trappers and hunters instead of promoting non-lethal solutions. Wildlife species should be revered not only because they are sentient beings but because the health of our ecosystems depend on them.

You can speak out against this insidious bounty program by contacting the South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Department today at 605.223.7660 or wildinfo@state.sd.us