After making the rounds at local government organizations, Sechelt resident Vicki Starfire is still on the campaign trail to ban animal traps on the Sunshine Coast.
Starfire and another member of the newly formed group Concerned Citizens of the Sunshine Coast have joined forces with the Vancouver based non-profit Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals. Starfire's dog Sammie got caught in a leghold trap while walking in the woods at the top of Mason Road in early April.
Starfire and Lesley Fox, executive director for the Association for the Protection of Fur-Bearing Animals, attended a week's worth of meetings, starting with a public meeting at Davis Bay Hall on May 16 followed by visits to both Gibsons and Sechelt councils.
The delegation received support on their effort to ban not only leghold traps, but also the use of Conibear and snare traps.
Both councils plan to examine the ban, with Gibsons already having a bylaw in place that is close to a total ban. Council galleries were packed both evenings with members of Starfire's group and other concerned citizens.
Ending the week with a final presentation at the Sunshine Coast Regional District's (SCRD) community services committee meeting, Starfire and Fox explained their view that traps are not only extremely cruel, but they are a safety issue affecting anyone from locals to tourists who may be in the woods.
On the Sunshine Coast, trapping is legal and still currently used to deal with nuisance wildlife. The trap that injured Sammie was set to catch a wolf, placed lawfully by a permit-holding individual.
Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk referred to the traps, displayed in front of SCRD directors at their May 19 meeting, as medieval. He also discussed the size of the Sunshine Coast and compared it to other areas that have banned or regulated traps.
"We need to get a gauge on the scale of this," he said. "We have a bylaw in Gibsons, but there is the bigger issue of the district."
Although committee members expressed further verbal support for the cause, the SCRD faces some roadblocks in implementing a ban.
Angie Legault, SCRD manager of legislative services, said the SCRD does not have the authority to implement a ban, but there is a "grey area" around the issue. She has requested more information from the province and will report back at a later SCRD committee meeting.
Legault also suggested directors could pursue other options, including requesting a specific management area on the Sunshine Coast within urban interface areas or requesting or lobbying for a provincial ban on leghold traps. Directors asked SCRD staff to come back with a report on the matter.
Fox is pleased with the results of her visit to the Coast and looks forward to follow-up by the SCRD.
"The main thing that is so encouraging about all three meetings is that there seems to be an interest in this, and it's snowballing. Every council member I spoke to seemed so supportive," Fox said. "If the Sunshine Coast bans traps, it would be the largest area in Canada to do so. It would be precedent setting."
