Fox-Trapping Delayed

Wildlife politics

The California Wildlife Commission has turned down the state Fish and Game Department’s first attempt to add an animal - the red fox - to a list of wildlife that can be legally trapped in the state for its fur.

Proponents wanted to increase trapping opportunities and at the same time cut the population of a non-native species.

The proposal triggered an emotional response from animal welfare groups. The red fox was imported from elsewhere in the country in the 1870s for rodent control, then for fox hunts and, in the 1920s, for fur farms.

Unlike the native Sierra Nevada red fox and San Joaquin kit fox, the non-native red fox has invaded wetlands to feed on marsh birds.

Buoyed by the commission’s ruling, animal rights activiststs are considering an initiative to ban all trapping in the state.