Gin trap horrors

A MASTERTON vet and the SPCA are calling for gin traps to be banned, after two pet cats lost legs to the devices in less than two weeks.
Both had been caught in gin or serrated-edge leg-hold traps, which are currently legal.
The second cat, a silver tabby called Bess, went missing from her Kopuaranga home last on Tuesday morning, according to her owner, Leah Paku.
Bess returned on Thursday night with her back leg in tatters and Mrs Paku said her daughter, who is 14, "just burst into tears".
Bess was taken to the Animal Hospital where her leg was amputated by veterinarian Hamish Qualtrough.
Ten days earlier the hospital amputated the front leg of another cat whose owners found it still in the trap.
Dr Qualtrough said gin traps leave an animal's leg crushed, with "hunks of bone and tendon" hanging off.
He had heard of at least one cat that had "actually chewed itself out of the trap".
"I can't imagine how terrified it must be to do that."
Dr Qualtrough said cats roam long distances and would not always yowl if they found themselves caught.
"They could be lying down very quiet, because they don't want a predator to come and get them."
Dr Qualtrough said it seemed the first trap, which had rusted so badly the chain was cut through, "had been sitting there a long time and the cat just happened to stumble across it".
None of the cat owners had known there were gin traps in their area.
Val Ball, president of the Wairarapa SPCA, has photographed Bess and her mangled leg and kept the limb as an exhibit, to show what gin traps do, to discourage people from using them and move towards a ban. She described the effects as "the most horrific injury to a cat".
Specific traps can be banned under the Animal Welfare Act by the recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, currently Jim Anderton. None have yet been banned but several are under investigation.
The traps in question include Lanes-Ace gin "and equivalent" traps, which are leg-hold traps with serrated teeth, double coil and long-spring traps.
Some local authorities, for example Auckland and Porirua, have bylaws about animal traps that usually include a ban on leg-hold traps.
Ray Cleary, senior biosecurity officer for Wellington Regional Council, said none of the pest control contracts encouraged the use of gin traps, but "if it was in a rural situation, away from buildings", other leg-hold traps might be used.
Mr Cleary said there was a difference between "smooth jaw" traps, which might be rubber-edged, are the only ones used by pest contactors.
"Serrated jaw traps are rarely used for our kind of work. We wouldn't do it, but there might be some who still use them," Mr Cleary said. "For example a farmer wanting to trap a pesky rabbit in his garden. It the only type of trap to actually target a rabbit."
Trap-setters are legally required to check "hold" traps within 12 hours of the first sunrise after they were set.