![Leghold traps claim a new victim: we file a complaint for Snooky](https://one-voice.fr/app/uploads/2024/06/6156a2a2.jpg)
Leghold traps claim a new victim: we file a complaint for Snooky
On January 31, 2024, in the town of Couëron, Loire-Atlantique, passers-by discovered a cat with his leg caught in a leg-hold trap, a cruel and non-selective device that has been banned since 1995. This is not the first time one of our companions has fallen victim to these outdated tools. And that’s without taking into account all the wild animals that are deliberately targeted. We have filed a complaint for Snooky.
This January 2024 could have ended with the usual outdoor walks and indoor meals with his family. But Snooky had the misfortune to wander into the wrong garden and stumble across a leghold trap that closed violently on his left front paw. As he struggled, he found himself hanging against a low wall overlooking the street, his bruised limb still trapped on the other side of the railings. Neighbors discovered him on the morning of Wednesday, January 31, thanks to his frantic mewing. How long had he been in distress, wounded in his flesh? His worried humans hadn’t seen him since Monday evening…
After he arrived at the vet in a state of shock and hypothermia, X-rays also revealed a dislocation of the phalanges and a suspected tear in the poor feline’s brachial plexus. Placed on a drip, Snooky eventually warmed up. But his injuries were irreversible. Two weeks after being taken into care, he had to have his middle and ring fingers amputated.
Traps sometimes illegal, always barbaric
Just a year ago, it was Cooper who found himself caught between the sharp teeth of a leghold trap. At the same time, Mani was discovered in agony, almost losing a leg to a snare. However, the older, unregistered version of the former device has been banned throughout the European Union for almost thirty years. How much longer will the rules be trampled all over ? And how long before these cruel, non-selective traps disappear and cease to deliver their victims to hours of intolerable suffering from which they cannot escape? For cats and dogs like Cooper, Mani and Snooky, but also for all the wild animals knowingly martyred, these practices must stop.
We join Snooky’s family and the association L’Arche de Ninie et ses Amis, who called us for help, in lodging a complaint. Together, let’s continue to defend the animals fallen victim to hunting by calling for a radical reform of this immoral hobby.