Trapped

Westchester County is home to a fascinating and diverse array of wildlife. Today, I will focus on the disturbing trend of trapping wildlife. For the purposes of clarity, I will only be speaking about healthy wildlife (particularly raccoons, skunks, and opossum) that have not made a home inside of an actual dwelling, but merely exist in one’s vicinity. 

Most of these animals emerge after dark and have little interest in interacting with humans. These animals exist in a finely-tuned relationship with the environment, and are critical for maintaining biodiversity. They play an important role in the ecosystem. They may eat, among other things, dead animals (providing the valuable function of cleaning the environment), insects, and small rodents. It is easy to take for granted all that goes on in our environment, because much of it happens out of our view.

Sometimes people want to have certain animals “gone.” Maybe they have an irrational fear of rabies, or perhaps their garbage is being raided at night. However, in the natural world, there is no such thing as “gone.” A widely-known principle is that nature abhors a vacuum. 

Removal of any animal from an environment to which it is suited will result in another taking its place. It can be an animal of the same species, another species, or several other species. Perhaps an abundance of insects or rodents. This may cause even more conflicts than the original, long-established, native species. But with certainty, the area will be populated with wildlife. 

Sometimes people are misinformed and believe that certain animals “carry rabies.” Yet it does not make sense to kill animals who show no signs of a disease, and are behaving normally. The risk that rabies actually poses to humans is negligible, and the technology does exist to disseminate rabies vaccine to wildlife. Nevertheless, people continue to fall victim to fear and often act upon this.

Of course, there is an important ethical aspect to this issue. Perhaps some people do not like animals, and that is why they want them “removed.” We do not need to like a creature or person to behave ethically toward them. It is indeed unethical to trap an animal who is merely living its life. Sadly, it is likely that any raccoon that is captured now will be a female with kits somewhere in a den. The trapping company will probably kill the animal. Sentient creatures will slowly starve to death without their mother. A mature member of the native, biologically-diverse ecosystem will suffer and die for no reason. And the vacant space will be re-inhabited in short order.

Some people claim that their wildlife removal company does not kill the animals, but humanely “relocates” them. People should be wary of the oft-repeated claim that an animal is taken “upstate.” Apart from the fact that a special DEC permit is needed to release certain animals outside of county lines, is the consumer to believe that every pest control company makes a six-hour round trip for every animal it traps?

The best answer is to find a way to peacefully coexist with our wildlife neighbors, and engage in intelligent action to prevent conflicts. As with so many issues, lethal methods are far from a viable solution, and often cause more problems.