Animal trap

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lobster trap
Bird trap
Hawk trap

Under an animal trap (short case ) refers to a device or apparatus that serves the purpose and is adapted to prevent living beings on the movement or kill. It is irrelevant whether this device or device was created by humans, evolved in nature or exists by chance.

Traps in the narrower sense are used when the creature to be caught causes the process of fixing, preventing movement or bringing about its own death through its behavior. Facilities that do not have the condition of this “self-release” are not traps in the narrower sense, but fishing gear.

Traps in the hunt

Hunting law

In view of the modern aspects of animal protection , trapping is heavily regulated in hunting law in most countries. In Germany it is basically regulated for game in the Federal Hunting Act. Details are regulated in the hunting laws of the federal states.

For other animals, the protection of the hunting law does not apply, e.g. B. on private land where pest control takes place.

Rules for using traps

In Germany, hunting by catching game is generally permitted under the Federal Hunting Act, but is legally restricted for certain fishing gear by means of "factual prohibitions". In most federal states, the hunter has to prove an additional trapping course. For animal welfare reasons, live traps in Germany must ensure that captured animals remain intact . Kill traps must kill immediately; In Germany, some federal states generally prohibit homicide traps. In Germany , traps have to be blinded , i.e. hidden in special trapping bunkers or lockable boxes so that they do not pose any danger to people or other animals. Furthermore, a regular inspection of the traps by the trapper is mandatory.

In order to handle traps responsibly, safely, in accordance with animal welfare and successfully, you need in-depth knowledge of the construction and operation of traps. It is also important to have knowledge of the behavior and anatomy of the game to be caught, on the one hand to catch only “desired” creatures by selective catching, and on the other hand to avoid harm to bystanders and animal cruelty .

Traps alive

Concrete pipe traps are live traps
Live trap with trap door for predators

Fixing traps have devices that hold the living being by one of its limbs , possibly also its head. Self-liberation is prevented by appropriate measures and conditions. Live traps (also called movement-preventing traps) lock the living being in a room or a container (" cage "). Care is taken to ensure that the living being can visit the room or container but cannot leave it again. Traps , fish traps and lobster traps meet this requirement, but are part of the fishing gear because there is no special trigger mechanism. Box traps and seesaw board traps are still used today when trapping predators . A similarly constructed cat trap is also used to catch cats . According to German hunting law , the integrity of the game must be ensured. Live traps must also be checked several times a day.

Since about 5000 BC Tow weights, so-called trap stones , were used in the previously fertile Sahara region to prevent animals from moving. Rock paintings of the Libyan desert show z. B. a rhinoceros with a trap stone and also an ox attacked by archers with two trap stones on the legs. Catch stones weighed around 10 to 90 kg, were elongated and clearly notched in the middle. In this notch a rope was attached, which ended in a loop. If an animal got caught in this noose, the attached stone prevented it from fleeing quickly and at the same time weakened it. In 1930, the Africa explorer Bernatzik reported a type of trap in which a noose attached to a wooden weight was placed around the animal's barrel.

Kill traps

Leghold traps

The aim of killing traps is to kill the animal as soon as the trap mechanism is triggered. This is achieved today using a variety of devices. The types of traps used in the hunt for predators use traps , such as the gooseneck . In this case, the trap is triggered by pulling a bait , which is intended to ensure that the animal only gets into the killing device with its front body. In contrast, traps like the leghold trap release when pressed. These traps are now banned in almost all European countries for animal welfare reasons, as the animals can also trigger the trap with their limbs and therefore often remain injured in the trap for a long time. German hunting law has forbidden the use of traps that do not kill immediately since 1934.

Technical facilities on traps

The device that triggers a trap is called a lock . The device that triggers the lock (usually by touch) is called the position . Lock and position are usually purely mechanical and require little maintenance. The position is always such that low forces are sufficient to trigger the lock. For some time, thought has been given to electronic positions and electromechanical locks on traps. Radio reporting systems ( Link GSM systems, mobile phones) that report the triggering of the trap are also in use today . One problem is the electrical power supply, which must be maintained over a long period of time.

Advantages and disadvantages of dead trap and live traps

Immediately killing traps save the living being from the extreme stress of being locked in or detained, which is considered to be animal welfare compliant. On the other hand, there is the fact that a living being killed by a trap cannot be brought back to life if an undesired living being is affected. Furthermore, if the trap is improperly set up and used, it is to be expected that the living being will not be killed but possibly seriously injured.

Traps that catch alive and unharmed always bring the stress mentioned above with them, but offer the chance to release false living beings into freedom. For the user of a live trap, the problem arises of killing the captured organism in accordance with animal welfare.

Traps for small animals

The requirements of the hunting laws do not apply to pest control . Traps are also used against small animals (e.g. mousetraps ). Trapping on pacified private property by everyone, at home in the garden for vole and mole, in the attic for mouse, rat, marten or raccoon are not subject to the strict regulations of hunting law, but the animal welfare and species protection regulations and the hunting law rules for "pacified districts ". Even the work of exterminators , who often work with poison as an attractant in the traps, does not meet the requirements of animal welfare.

Traps for insects

Live catcher for insects
Attractant trap for bark beetles
Attachment of a pheromone trap

Devices such as the pheromone trap for bark beetles and the light trap for catching nocturnal insects are used to combat insects . Light traps are used for fighting purposes, but also for scientific purposes (live traps). The choice of attractant determines the insects caught in the fly jar.

Furthermore, adhesive surfaces and strips equipped with attractants or attractive patterns are known.

Since all of these devices lack the trigger mechanism, they are classified as fishing gear.

criticism

Animal welfare associations only tolerate the use of live traps for purposes of animal welfare (population control, vaccination, castration).

Live traps are also used for scientific purposes (for example ringing, investigations of animals and their migration routes). They can often be replaced by the use of tranquilizers.

Fall of living things

Some plants, which due to their development and their habitat are dependent on the supply of animal protein for food, have developed facilities that deserve the name trap. These include B. the Venus flytrap and the sundew . In the animal sector, examples are the ant lion (builds a pitfall ) and various arachnids ( net traps ). Traps for plants and animals are often more of a fishing gear, as they do not have a self-release mechanism. This concerns z. B. Cases where glue is used to fix the prey. In contrast, some plants are able to actively enclose the captured animal. In the ant lion's sand funnel, this happens when a sand avalanche is triggered.

More trap types

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ BJagdG § 1: Catch hunt; Section 19: factual prohibitions
  2. ↑ Section 1, Paragraph 4 of the BJadgdG: "The practice of hunting extends to searching for, tracking, killing and catching game."
  3. ↑ so BJagdG §19 paragraph 1 number 8: Snares of any kind in which game can be caught, manufacture, offer for sale, purchase or set up; Section 9: fishing gear that does not catch intact or does not kill immediately, as well as using self-firing gear;
  4. ↑ See Section 32 Paragraph 3 Hunting and Game Management Act Baden-Württemberg, Section 30 Para. 1 VO for the implementation of the State Hunting Act of North Rhine-Westphalia, § 18 para. 1 no. 2 Saxon Hunting Act
  5. ↑ Joachim Steinbach, Hunt with the trap , Deutsche Jagdzeitung (djz.de accessed on November 28, 2009) .
  6. ↑ § 19 (1) 1 BJagdG : "Objective prohibitions": fishing gear that does not catch intact or does not kill immediately is prohibited.
  7. ^ Richard Kinseher: The bow in culture, music and medicine, as a tool and weapon. BoD 2005, ISBN 3-8311-4109-6 .
  8. ^ Reichsjagdgesetz of July 3, 1934; Section 34, Paragraph 1 Clause 9.
  9. ↑ BJagdG §19
  10. ↑ Link deleted: out of date March 6, 2016
  11. ↑ §6 Federal Hunting Act; further regulated depending on the German state, e.g. B. Section 8 (3) of the Saxon Hunting Act