Ubellule, another victim of jaw traps!

Ubellule is only 17 months old. Like all little cats her age, she is curious, loves to explore the surroundings of her home in Mainvilliers (Eure-et-Loir), and to bask in the sun. On 28 February, around midday, she set off for a carefree stroll. Twenty minutes later, her family found her in agony on the terrace, a jaw trap attached to her paw. What happened in the meantime? How did Ubellule manage to drag herself home? As these traps are designed for larger animals – they are also known as wolf traps – it is likely that someone unhooked the chain holding her prisoner: Ubellule could never have freed herself.

To free her paw from the steel jaws, her human had to call on her neighbours for help. Shortly afterwards, the vet made the diagnosis: Ubellule had suffered an open fracture and dislocation of the third phalanx on her second toe, was at risk of amputation and was trying to recover from the trauma. Because beyond the physical injuries, hunters’ traps cause profound distress and intense stress to all wild and domestic animals that fall victim to them.

In her misfortune, Ubellule was lucky. Not all are so fortunate, and the young cat is far from being an isolated case. Last year, Snooky was trapped in the Loire-Atlantique region. Before him, there was also Cooper, Red Collar, who lost a paw, and Mani, who was found dying. Tigrou died.

Stop the impunity

And yet, jaw traps have been banned since 1995! Their presence everywhere in the wild, despite a law that dates back three decades, is proof of the lack of control and the total impunity enjoyed by the hunting community. Hunters are also authorised to use snare traps. And they do not hesitate to do so. Every year, they indiscriminately decimate our familiar companions and wild animals: foxes, martens, pine martens, polecats, but also protected animals such as forest cats and even wolves. Some are strangled, others endure a slow agony for several days and eventually die of hunger and thirst. All of them go through a real ordeal!

For Ubellule, we will go to court. As we did for Cooper, Mani, Tigrou and all the others.

Back in 2018, One Voice called for a ban on these indiscriminate traps which kill wild as well as domestic animals and even protected animals. It is high time to radically reform hunting and urgently ban the most cruel practices.