FUR TRAPS

"In 1973, under pressure from the anti-fur lobby, the Canadian
government set up the Federal-Provincial Committee on Humane Trapping
(FPCHT). The committee recommended that a humane trap be capable of
killing an animal within three minutes. (Technically, under this
definition, even the traditional leg-hold trap could be called
"humane".)

Before the FPCHT, virtually no attempt had been made anywhere to
scientifically evaluate the stress actually suffered by animals in
traps. The newly formed Fur Institute of Canada has now been mandated
to build on the work of the FPCHT to establish standards for trapping
systems for each species to insure that the most humane trapping
methods possible will be used. One concrete result that has already
come from FPCHT research and guidelines is the publication, in 1984,
of a national standard for "Mechanically powered, trigger-activated,
humane animal traps," developed by the Canadian General Standards
Board (CGSB). This is the world's first standard in this area.

One of the founders of Canadian Association for Humane Trapping
(CAHT), Neal Jotham, who is also executive director of the Canadian
Federation of Humane Societies (CFHS), is a member of the CGSB
technical committee that worked on defining the requirements for
humane traps. A trap must be capable of "consistently striking and
holding its target species between the back of the eyes and the fourth
cervical vertebrae with the specified combination of impact momentum
and clamping force". The detailed specifications for killing different
species quickly and humanely were developed from the findings of FPCHT
research. Neal Jotham also heads the Humane Trap Development Committee
of the Fur Institute of Canada, which will refine and field-test new
trap developments. The irony of the severe criticism to which Canada
has been exposed recently over the use of traps, says Neal Jotham, is
that Canada was the first country in the world to begin "serious
scientific research and development of humane killing-type
traps". Some of this research was begun as early as 1968 by the
CFHS. And Canada is still the only country where such research is
being conducted."

Alan Herscovici. 1985. "Second Nature: The Animal Rights
Controversy". Stoddart Publishing, Toronto. pp.128-129.