An open letter to the City of Surrey.
It has been brought to our attention that recently, a male raccoon with a leg-hold trap clamped to his front paw was found in a shed on 155 Street in Surrey.
This poor creature had to be euthanized, as an infection had set in up to his elbow; so how long he had been suffering is unknown.
As residents of Surrey, we would urge council to immediately pass a bylaw banning the use of leg-hold, Conibear and snare traps. The use of these traps is cruel and barbaric to wildlife and is also dangerous to our children and pets.
We have also been made aware that under the Community Charter, a municipality has the legal authority to ban lethal traps and we urge city council to follow the example of Gibsons, B.C. and pass a bylaw to ban all body-gripping traps and to implement non-lethal alternatives to manage wildlife.
As leg-hold traps are still legal in all provinces, please show an example to the rest of Canada.
John and Pauline Wilcock, Surrey