Outdoor News Daily

Columbus – Sportsmen have reached a legal settlement in a lawsuit that threatened to ban trapping in Maine. The decision will allow trapping to continue in the state.

On Oct. 4, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (DIFW) agreed to restrict trap sizes in areas where Canada lynx exist. The action is part of a settlement between the state and the Animal Protection Institute (API), an anti-trapping organization that filed suit in 2006 to ban trapping. The group argued that all trapping should be prohibited to prevent the inadvertent catch of federally-protected Canada lynx.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation joined the case as a defendant intervenor to represent sportsmen’s interests. It’s legal arm, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund, worked along with the Maine Trappers Association, Fur Takers of America, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, National Trappers Association and individual sportsmen Oscar Cronk, Donald Dudley, Alvin Theriault and Brian Cogill.

“We will get to continue trapping in Maine with minimal restrictions,” said Skip Trask, executive director of the Maine Trappers Association. “The attorneys for the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation did an outstanding job. Without them, we would have been in serious trouble.”

The DIFW has filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to receive an Incidental Take Permit. The permits are distributed by the FWS for activities that could possibly result in “take” of threatened or endangered species. If the agency grants the permit, the settlement and its restrictions will expire.

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