Ecologists, trappers clash over owl's death

Environmentalists and members of an organization that relocates so-called "nuisance wildlife" from heavily populated areas are questioning each others' motives in the aftermath of the death of a great horned owl that had been caught in a steel leg-hold trap in January.

The dispute flared Wednesday after the Connecticut Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators Association of West Hartford announced that it was offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of whom-ever set the leg-hold trap. The bird, which had its right leg amputated after it was found Jan. 19 in Wallingford dragging the trap, was euthanized Feb. 28 after officials at the Cummings School for Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University determined an infection caused by the trap had spread.

Laura Simon, the Connecticut-based field director for the Urban Wildlife Program of The Humane Society of the United States, questioned the motives in making the reward offer. The Humane Society offered a $2,500 reward of its own after the owl was found in Wallingford.

"If this isn't a bogus PR move, I don't know what it is," Simon said. "Why are they only offering the reward now, rather than two months ago? It would seem to me that they are trying to redirect the focus of this."

Simon contends that efforts to pass legislation to ban the use of steel leg-hold traps are the motivation for the reward offer by the trade group. Tom Logan, vice president of the association, disputed that claim.

"The owl was trapped illegally; the way the trap was used was illegal," Logan said. "More information is needed to help solve this case and we're reaching out to the public."

Logan said members of his organization use a more humane foot-hold trap that has padding around the jaws. "The law says we can use padded foot-hold traps. This is a live-capture trap that acts just like a pair of handcuffs; we treat the animals better than prisoners because their handcuffs don't come with any padding."

Simon and other environmentalists, such as Kathy Grasso, manager of Yalesville Veterinary Hospital where doctors amputated the raptor's right leg, dispute the claim that when used with padding, the foot- and leg-hold traps are humane. They contend that the force with which the padded traps close breaks bones and crushes internal organs.

"I can understand why these people might be angry and offer the rewards, because whoever did this wasn't playing by the rules and presumably these people are," Grasso said, referring to the nuisance wildlife control group. "But I don't believe in these traps. They're not humane."

This isn't the first time environmentalists and trap supporters have clashed. During a March 9 legislative hearing on a bill that would ban foot- or leg-hold traps and conibear traps, which open like a mousetrap and quickly kill an animal by striking its head, neck or body, both sides in the dispute questioned the other's motives.

Those who support current regulations, in which use of the traps is heavily regulated, cited a report by the state Department of Environmental Protection that claims the trap could not have been sprung on the owl's leg because it was broken.

"The report indicated this was not a functional trap," Logan said Wednesday. "Very little is known by Connecticut environmental conservation officers about this owl. There is no other evidence in this case about where the owl came from."

Grasso said individuals in the nuisance wildlife control business tried to suggest at the hearing that environmentalists used the situation as a ploy to sway public opinion. Simon bristles at such a suggestion.

"It took a lot of work by veterinarians and veterinary technicians to get this trap off the foot," Simon said. "It was a bloody mess."

Anyone with information regarding the owl is encouraged to call the DEP conservation police at (800) 842-4357, Logan said.

Luther Turmelle can be reached at or 789-5706.