“Mutts” Cartoonist and The HSUS Tell NY Officials: Protect Our Kids and Pets
ALBANY, N.Y. — Today, Patrick McDonnell, prize-winning cartoonist and creator of "Mutts" comic strip, joined The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in urging the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis to abandon current proposed trapping regulations and to establish regulations that will protect children and family pets from these deadly traps.
(PressZoom) - ALBANY, N.Y. — Today, Patrick McDonnell, prize-winning cartoonist and creator of "Mutts" comic strip, joined The Humane Society of the United States ( HSUS ) in urging the Department of Environmental Conservation ( DEC ) Commissioner Pete Grannis to abandon current proposed trapping regulations and to establish regulations that will protect children and family pets from these deadly traps.
Current New York statute mandates that traps may not be set on a public highway or within a mere 100 feet from a school, church, playground or private dwelling. The new regulations under consideration by the DEC would place some traps above ground as a "solution." However, elevating traps above ground will result in suspending the trapped individual—including cats and wildlife.
"I urge new DEC Commissioner Grannis not to adopt the proposed 'vertical' trapping regulations which cruelly allows trapped animals to dangle in the air, but instead to institute trap free buffer zones along trails to keep children and pets safe," McDonnell said.
The HSUS representative Dora Schomberg added, "We ask DEC to implement regulations allowing counties the option to restrict or ban dangerous traps, without threat of a lawsuit. Commissioner Grannis himself was a sponsor of such legislation during his tenure as a state assemblyman."
As an assembly member, Grannis noted in a support memo, "This bill would place those decisions in the hands of the county legislature who know their counties best." Similar bills, A7991 and S1461, were introduced into the state legislature this year.
FACTS:
In the last 20 years, The HSUS has received nearly 100 reports of dogs and cats injured or killed by traps in New York. The number is probably much higher since most cases likely go unreported. Millions of animals suffer and die, often lingering for days in extreme pain, in fur traps each year in the United States to supply fur and fur trim to the cruel and unnecessary fur trade. Body-crushing type traps are landmines for animals, snapping shut on any creatures who haplessly trigger them—wildlife or pets —and are nearly impossible to remove. Patrick McDonnell is the creator of the "Mutts" comic strip that appears in more than 700 newspapers in 20 countries. He has received numerous awards including the Sierra Club Award. His children's book was a New York Times best seller and he was selected by the U.S. Marines to illustrate the official 2006 Toys for Tots holiday poster. The American Library Association chose him to create a "Read!" poster. While McDonnell's "Mutts" strip generally focuses on his main cat and dog characters, he has created strips with messages including the Canadian seal hunt. McDonnell is also a member of The HSUS Board of Directors.
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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization – backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- on the web at humanesociety.org.
Heather Sullivan, ( 301 ) 548-7778
Submitted by
HSUS
Release Date
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