PLEASE DON'T JUST SIGN THIS PETITION - WE NEED POLITE PHONE CALLS! Call Georgia Governor Nathan Deal at 404-656-1776 and ask that he veto House Bill (H.B.) 160. Non-Georgia residents can call too.

The call is very quick and EASY! All you have to do is say “please ask Governor Deal to veto HB 160.” Call weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (EST) because the governor does not have a voicemail.

Tweet @GovenorDeal and ask that he #vetoHB160. Please be sure to use #vetoHB160 in all of your tweets.

In spite of enormous opposition from Georgia constituents, H.B. 160, which aims to overturn a current ban on the trapping of raccoons throughout northern Georgia passed through the House and Senate, and is now on Governor Nathan Deal’s desk. This Bill is intended to expand "recreational" trapping, in which cruel steel-jaw traps are the industry standard.

The use of steel-jaw traps is exceedingly cruel, causing great terror and pain to frantic victims who often chew off their own limbs in an attempt to escape the trap. The gnawing off of a limb is so common that it has been given the term 'wringing off' by trappers. It is estimated that up to one in every four trapped animals escapes by chewing off his or her own foot.

Steel-jaw traps also pose a threat to companion animals as well as "non-target" wildlife. H.B. 160 would open recreational raccoon trapping in urban areas such as Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett, increasing the threat to companion animals.

H.B. 160 passed through the House and Senate based on false information presented by the sponsors of the bill. The false information was allowed to go undisputed by the Senate Natural Resources and the Environment Committee Chairman in his refusal to allow the public to speak.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wants to lift the ban on raccoon trapping so that they have another avenue to promote “recreational” trapping, and to increase the game animal populations so hunters will have more to kill. The Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division and the Georgia Trappers Association recently hosted a field day workshop on trapping “to teach how to how to manage land to benefit deer and turkey populations, while controlling coyotes, beaver, raccoon and opossums.”

Why is the DNR and the sponsor of the bill afraid to tell the public the truth about H.B. 160? Is it because they know the public will reject the idea of manipulating wildlife to create unnatural and unhealthy populations solely to benefit hunters and trappers? Is it because they know the public will reject the brutal maiming and killing of raccoons and other wild and domestic species, including cats and dogs, so that hunters will have more “game animals” to kill?

THE TRUTH ABOUT H.B. 160:

• H.B. 160 would INCREASE the spread of rabies and other diseases. The Centers for Disease Control, the National Academy of Sciences, and the World Health Organization, are all against using trapping as rabies control. Trapping causes the spread of disease as it removes healthy animals, working against nature's selection process and creating vacancies for the sick. Acutely ill rabid individuals are unlikely to get caught because they don’t eat or respond to food baits.
  
  

• H.B. 160 would INCREASE the number of traps in Georgia, therefore INCREASING the number of animals of all species harmed in indiscriminate leghold traps, including cats and dogs. Traps also kill federally protected eagles, hawks, and owls.
  
  

• H.B. 160 passed through the House and Senate based on the false information that the bill is need for “nuisance wildlife control.” Currently, residents anywhere in Georgia can already apply for a free permit to trap raccoons they believe are sick, harmful to crops, or other property. H.B. 160 will open 38 counties to recreational raccoon trapping, including licenses sold to non-GA residents, which will increase the number of dangerous and cruel leg-hold traps in Georgia, increasing the threat to our pets and wildlife.
  
  
• H.B. 160 passed through the House and Senate based on false information that trappers in these 38 counties are fined if a raccoon gets caught in their traps while trapping for other species. This is untrue. By GA law, trappers setting legal traps are not fined or penalized if “non-target” animals get caught, hurt, or killed in their traps, it doesn’t matter if it is a raccoon, dog, cat, or child – all are considered “incidental take” and there is no penalty.
  
  
• The DNR wants to lift the ban on raccoon trapping so that they have another avenue to promote “recreational” trapping, and to increase the game animal populations so hunters will have more to kill. The Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division and the Georgia Trappers Association recently hosted a field day workshop on trapping “to teach how to how to manage land to benefit deer and turkey populations, while controlling coyotes, beaver, raccoon and opossums.”

H.B. 160 passed through the house and senate based on a misconception that Georgia should have one law throughout the entire state that makes recreational raccoon trapping legal in all counties. Modern wildlife management should be done at the landscape scale, not via political boundaries. Raccoons in the northern counties have been able to manage their numbers fine for the past 50 years without recreational trapping. The sole purpose of H.B.160 is to allow the Department of Natural Resources to profit from selling licenses to those who enjoy crippling, wounding, and killing raccoons for amusement.

Please sign the petition and then make a polite call to Governor Deal at 404-656-1776 between 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (EST) weekdays asking him to veto H.B. 160! Every call matters!