It was late at night, and the homeowner heard a cat howling in agony. He went outside to investigate and realized that the trap that had been set by a "nuisance"-wildlife trapper for a groundhog had snared a different victim. When Paulette Dean, the executive director of southern Virginia's Danville Area Humane Society, got the call about a cat in a trap, she naturally assumed that the animal was in a humane box trap normally used to catch feral cats, but when the animal arrived at the shelter, the staffer on duty was horrified to discover that the cat was clamped in a barbaric body-gripping Conibear trap.

The cat's internal organs were damaged, and there was internal bleeding. So the animal was released from pain. "There was no choice," Dean says.

Conibear traps crush animals' necks and bodies, applying 90 pounds of pressure per square inch. Animals caught in these traps slowly suffocate or die of internal injuries, and those caught in water-set body-gripping traps, such as muskrats and beavers, slowly drown.

Dean says that the shelter also receives dogs who have been caught in steel-jaw traps. These traps, which clamp down on animals' legs, cause excruciating pain as they cut into the flesh, often down to the bone. Some animals, especially mothers with babies to feed, may try to chew off their limbs in an attempt to escape.  Dean wants to see both types of cruel traps banned in Danville.  

"We believe that no trap except a live-capture or humane trap should be used within the city limits," she told the local newspaper. "The steel traps, beaver traps and bear traps may be legal, but they are not humane and place humans and companion animals at risk. We are also concerned about the suffering the traps cause wild animals."

What You Can Do

Cruel steel traps are just one of the many dangers faced by stray, feral, and free-roaming cats. Keep your cat safe indoors, and urge everyone you know to do the same. Catch strays in humane box traps and take them to an animal shelter, where they will be safe until they can be adopted or claimed by their guardians. If you are having conflicts with wildlife, visit our wildlife page for humane solutions.

Update: In one of the pettiest pieces of pork-barrel politics we've seen in a long time, North Carolina state Rep. Roger West, who just so happens to be a sponsor of Brasstown's annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop, has introduced Senate Bill 60, also sneeringly known as "The Opossum Right-to-Work Act."

At face value, the bill appears to be simply a way to skirt a judge's recent ruling that outlawed the cruel event. But it's actually far more insidious than that—it would also strip other wildlife protections and would allow wild animals to be held in captivity for unspecified periods of time, put on display for profit or publicity, and exploited for some unspecified "other purpose." The bill even seeks to exempt some activities from the state's anti-cruelty law. TV icon Bob Barker has sent a letter to members of the North Carolina Senate urging them to reject the bill, and if you're a North Carolina resident, we hope you will do the same and get all your neighbors to weigh in, too. 

Originally posted on November 14th, 2012:

After the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC), despite an objection from PETA, issued a made-up permit to Clay Logan to possess an opossum for his cruel annual New Year's Eve "Opossum Drop"—in which a terrified opossum is abducted, held captive, then suspended and lowered into a horde of boisterous revelers—at his general store in Brasstown, PETA took the matter to court. Now the verdict's in, and the animal with the gray fur scored a victory over the folks with the red faces—and necks.

That's right, y'all: Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred G. Morrison Jr. ruled in PETA's favor, finding that in North Carolina, citizens "are prohibited from capturing and using wild animals for pets or amusement" and that the "WRC has no authority to issue any permit to Logan for the unlawful public display of a native wild animal at the Opossum Drop Event." As a result, the WRC may not "issue any permit or license for possessing and publicly displaying a live opossum for use in an 'Opossum Drop' event or for any other public display of a live opossum or other native wild animal."

Each year, several weeks prior to New Year's Eve, Logan has captured an opossum from the wild and confined the animal before hoisting him or her high into the air on New Year's Eve, and then, with a raucous crowd cheering and the noise of fireworks, live music, and the firing of muskets and cannons, lowered the frightened animal into the fray. Opossums are shy animals who are terrified of humans—their primary predator—and vulnerable to stress-related conditions because of captivity, including capture myopathy, which can result in death days or even weeks after release back into the wild.

What You Can Do

Causing animals pain or distress should never be cause for celebration. Learn more about entertainment that doesn't harm animals as well as how to live in harmony with wildlife.

Steel-jaw traps don't discriminate—they'll snap their sharp metal teeth shut on the limb of anyone who is unfortunate enough to step on them. A raccoon in Portsmouth, Virginia, was one recent victim.

The innocent raccoon was scurrying through the grass in a quiet neighborhood when he suddenly collapsed, his body racked with pain. As the serrated teeth of a steel-jaw trap ground into his muscles, he began frantically trying to escape, even attempting to chew off his own limb. But as he thrashed, he became lodged in a resident's fence.

When the homeowners discovered the grisly scene, they immediately called both animal control and PETA. Our Community Animal Project fieldworkers rushed to the home and helped the animal control officer gently free the suffering raccoon from the fence and the cruel trap. The officer then whisked him back to the animal control office and quickly ended his misery. Unfortunately, none of the neighbors knew who had set the trap, and our fieldworkers couldn't find the culprit despite canvassing the neighborhood.

Steel-jaw traps are some of the cruelest and most ineffective methods of wildlife control in existence. PETA offers a wealth of information on how to easily and humanely keep raccoons and other animals at bay without endangering other wildlife, companion animals, and people. 

If children aren't mature enough to see nude human bodies, are they really mature enough to see people killing for "fun"? PETA has written to the CEO of Hudson News, Joseph DiDomizio, to request that his retail outlets handle hunting magazines in the same way that they would handle any other material that is inappropriate for kids: Store them out of reach and view of minors and allow only adults over the age of 18 to purchase them.

If looking at pornography could encourage kids to become sexually active, as some child advocates suggest, what could looking at magazines that portray killing as exciting and rewarding do to them? We know that many of the school shooters who killed their classmates first hunted animals. As our letter to DiDomizio points out, "Like other forms of casual or thrill violence, hunting spawns a dangerous desensitization to the suffering of others." 

Additionally, most children can't fully comprehend the consequences of hunting. For animals such as wolves, who mate for life and live in close-knit family units, hunting tears apart not only families but also entire communities. Baby deer are often orphaned when hunters kill their parents. And many animals who are shot by hunters are injured but not killed, and they are left to starve, die from blood loss, or be attacked by predators.

WH Smith magazine retailers in Great Britain have already implemented an age restriction on the sale of hunting magazines. Impressionable children in the U.S. deserve the same protection.

As we mentioned previously, PETA's Community Animal Project (CAP) fieldworkers are out and about in Norfolk and the surrounding communities, helping animals hurt or stranded by Hurricane Sandy. And it's not just dogs and cats who need help. Take, for example, this unfortunate pelican.

The exhausted fella was obviously worn out after being tossed around by the storm. A kind soul who spotted him called PETA, asking what kind of food she could give him, convinced that nobody would be able to get out to help the grounded bird since her street had become impassible.

Well, CAP doesn't know the meaning of the word "impassible." When local animal control representatives said that they weren't sure they'd be able to get out there, PETA's staffers drove through the gusty winds and heavy rains to get this big guy and transport him to the Virginia Beach SPCA. Our good friends there will give him the needed rehab so that he can be released once the coast is clear.

Stay tuned for more news from the front lines. And to help keep PETA's work for animals afloat, make a donation today.

It's probably not too often that a first-date conversation turns to a discussion on various types of mousetraps, but that's exactly what happened to me.

When I met my boyfriend, he was in hot pursuit of a mouse who was taste-testing her way through his cabinets. He said he was trying to catch her in a snap trap and wasn't having any luck. He even surmised that the mouse was so crafty that she was not only avoiding the trap but also periodically dancing a little jig around it while pointing and laughing hysterically. (I maintain that the mouse was too smart for that antiquated trap.) So there we were on our first date talking about how the snap trap could injure his dog, may not kill the mouse (at least not instantly), and could make a big mess, and somewhere between the salad and the risotto, he agreed to give my Humane Smart Mousetrap a try.

Soon after, we met for date number two so that we could institute Operation Mouse Catch. A few days, a few dates, and a few dabs of peanut butter later, the mousier Jesse James was in custody:

We took her mug shot and promptly let her go in the yard. And contrary to his misgivings, her cabinet renegade days seem to be over. Since then, our dates have become a little more normal, and as for the mousetrap that started it all, my boyfriend's parents have decided to try it out for themselves to nab their own miniature house guest. And I did a little reading on mice. Turns out, they're a lot like us: They love to learn new things, they're very social, and they are loving companion animals.

October is Rodent Prevention Month. As we've learned, the best way to keep from having unwanted visitors is to store food in chew-proof plastic containers, keep trash in lidded cans, and seal off any possible entry points. Just focusing on killing a mouse or rat who comes indoors won't work because if the area is still appealing and accessible, another animal will simply take the first one's place.

And many rodent traps are not only ineffective but also cruel. Animals snared in glue traps, for instance, may languish for days before finally dying of starvation or dehydration. During that time, the animals' skin, fur, or feathers may be ripped off as he or she struggles to escape. And like most "kill traps" and rodent poisons, glue traps don't discriminate: Dogs, cats, other nontarget animals—and even small children—can be harmed by them.

This Rodent Prevention Month, show mice and rats some love with a Humane Smart Mousetrap. You never know where it might lead.

I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that PETA opposes hunting. After all, it's a no-brainer: Chasing and shooting animals (with a gun or a bow and arrow) causes terror. Mates grieve, young animals can starve when their mothers are killed, and hunting leaves wounded but unrecovered animals to die slowly and wretchedly from blood loss, infection, or predation.

PETA works to end efforts to get ever-younger kids to take up this cruel blood sport because hunting teaches them to see other individuals as objects to exploit and "things" to kill—a very dangerous lesson. Every school shooter has been found to have hunted, and although not every kid who hunts will go on to gun down human beings, people who fire weapons at other living beings destroy a piece of their own heart.

In his article for Psychology Today titled "Do Some People Simply Like to Kill Other Animals?" Dr. Marc Bekoff offers some thought-provoking perspectives on the mind-set of hunters as well as on their self-deceit. Here is an excerpt:

I see no reason to kill other animals for a meal that isn't needed. Every time I read an essay about 'ethical hunting' it makes me reflect on a number of different and challenging issues. One that comes up time and time again is that maybe some people simply like to kill other animals and then offer a wide variety of excuses about their lust for blood (consider also the unrelenting war on wildlife including the wanton killing of wolves, the man who used a trapped wolf for target practice, and the egregious abuse of laboratory animals including chimpanzees). I can easily understand why some hunters offer that 'getting out in nature' or 'getting in touch with nature' or 'having quality family time' are important to them and that's why they hunt. But one can get closer to nature without a gun so there's more to it at least for some people, or so it seems.

I also don't understand how some people can deny the suffering and death(s) for which they're directly responsible. I find that when some people say something like 'Oh, I know they suffer, but I love my steak' it nauseates me. And when they say they love other animals and then kill them I like to say I'm glad they don't love me.

Many people want to rewild their hearts - reconnect with other nature - and it's incredibly easy to do without causing any harm. So, when will the unnecessary killing stop? I hope sooner than later because it's just not necessary to cause harm and to kill to have a healthy meal plan. So, do some people simply enjoy killing other animals? It seems they do or else they wouldn't do it.

iStockphoto.com/KeithSzafranski

What You Can Do

Help counter the cruelty of hunting in your area: Post "No Hunting" signs on your land and that of sympathetic neighbors and friends, join or form a local anti-hunting group, protest organized hunts, and spread deer repellent or human hair (from barber shops) near hunting areas. Also, before supporting any wildlife or conservation group, make sure that it opposes hunting.

When PETA learned that a Florida man was trapping (and perhaps killing) squirrels directly under a bird feeder, a PETA cruelty caseworker jumped into action. While the trapping was legal under state law—which meant that Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials couldn't help—the squirrels suffered for hours from the intense Florida heat and from anxiety, especially since squirrels prefer to burrow and minimize their exposure to humans and other potential dangers.

In addition to asking Fish and Wildlife to confront the man trapping the squirrels, the caseworker called and e-mailed the man and encouraged one of the man's neighbors to speak to the trapper, who ultimately agreed to stop capturing the squirrels. The neighbor was also urged to stop feeding squirrels, which attracted more of them to the area.

What You Can Do

There's no need to resort to drastic measures: Learn how to live in harmony with our wild-animal neighbors. Even if you enjoy wildlife, please think carefully before feeding them, as doing so can expose them to predators and other dangers.

When this orphaned baby pigeon was brought into a parks department office, the woman who accepted the hatchling did the right thing and contacted animal control—but unfortunately, animal-control officers didn't do the right thing. Although they said they'd come get the bird, they didn't show up. So the tenacious lady made another smart move: She called PETA.

The little one was lethargic, having been without his parents for so long, so PETA's caseworker quickly called the agency responsible for rescue and rehabilitation for animal control and had it expedite care. You'll be glad to know that the pigeon was successfully rehabbed. His future looks bright—or, as the caseworker put it, "He is going to be a rock star among pigeons."

What You Can Do

If you want to be a rock star among pigeons (or any other animals), all you have to do is be ready to offer assistance when they're in trouble—and don't give up until they receive the help they need.

A PETA staffer walking to the Los Angeles office one morning spotted an opossum sitting in the middle of the road, bleeding from her mouth. Several men were jabbing her with sticks.

Look closely: Even when injuries aren’t obvious, an animal may be suffering.

With the help of several coworkers, the staffer cleared everyone from the area. Then she gathered up the opossum and drove to the nearest animal shelter so that the injured animal could be assessed. Shelter staff determined that the opossum was a mother carrying a pouch full of babies and that her injuries were quite severe: Euthanasia was deemed the most merciful option for both the mother and her babies. The staffer's speedy response saved this opossum family from being hit by another car, being further tormented by cruel people, or suffering and slowly dying from their injuries or from heatstroke, dehydration, or starvation.

If you spot an injured animal on the road, please don't leave the animal to suffer. If you can safely collect the animal, transport him or her to the nearest animal shelter or vet's office for assessment and/or euthanasia. If you don't think that you can contain the animal, call the police or animal control, stress the urgency of the situation, and stay with the animal until help arrives. If all local options fail, please call PETA.