Editor:
We have discovered, to our horror, that one of our neighbours is trapping animals.
We heard the cries of two captured raccoons on Wednesday, looked over the fence and saw the traps.
That made us realize there are no longer any squirrels in the neighbourhood, and the raccoon family that visited us every summer for more than 20 years is gone now.
We are left with the black comedy of people putting up lost cat posters in front of our house, while behind us our neighbour just resets his traps.
Our neighbourhood may never get the wildlife back.
The trapping has to be stopped, but that exposes a fresh horror. The agencies with the apparent power to stop or discourage the trapping won’t do anything. They just point to another agency and fold their arms.
The SPCA directed us to BC. Conservation or Surrey Bylaw. Surrey Bylaw assured us that trapping animals is illegal in their jurisdiction but could not enforce this bylaw as wildlife ‘management’ is under B.C. Conservation.
When we contacted Conservation, we were told trapping is legal as long as it’s ‘humane,’ and the neighbour can continue to trap animals at will. So who’s in charge here? Passing the buck is the norm.
The animals lose, as usual, and our bit of nature is gone.
K. Chisholm, South Surrey