Two wildlife advocacy organizations filed a motion in federal district court on Wednesday to stop Maine’s early coyote and fox trapping season, set to begin this weekend.

The Animal Welfare Institute and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine want to protect Canada lynx from leg-hold traps. The animal has been listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act since 2000.

The groups are also co-plaintiffs in a case against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that seeks to stop the department from “continuing to violate the Endangered Species Act by allowing trappers to use traps that trap, injure, and sometimes kill Canada lynx,” according to a Wednesday report.

An immediate ruling is necessary to protect lynx and their young
because they are more vulnerable during the early trapping season, said Camilla Fox, a wildlife consultant with the Animal Welfare Institute who has served as an expert witness in the case and two similar cases.

During the early season, lynx are often attracted to bait used for coyotes, foxes and other species, and there are more juvenile lynx roaming the Maine woods that may be vulnerable, according to the report. Young lynx are sometimes killed or orphaned when their parents are killed in traps.

Maine’s resident lynx population is estimated at between 200 and 500. Survey data show that fewer lynx are reproducing and the population is likely in decline. Also, snowshoe hare populations — the main food source for lynx — have declined by 50 percent in the past two years in Maine.

“Historically, more lynx have been incidentally trapped in October and November during the early coyote and fox season than any other months, and the court has yet to rule on our federal case, so we are forced to file this motion to protect lynx from deadly traps,” Fox said.

The groups filed suit against the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife on Aug. 11, 2008, to compel it to comply with federal law and take immediate action to protect Canada lynx.

“We feel this motion will accomplish two very important goals,” said Daryl DeJoy, founder and executive director of the Wildlife Alliance of Maine. “It will give the judge the time he needs to make a decision based on the letter of the law, and more importantly, it will protect our dwindling lynx population from further harm from someone’s idea of recreation.”

Through the preliminary injunction motion, the plaintiffs are seeking to stop the early fox and coyote trapping season to provide sufficient time for the court to issue its decision on the 2008 case.

The organizations have revealed that since 1999, at least 44 lynx have been trapped in leg-hold and Conibear kill-traps set for other species.

Of the 30 lynx trapped in leg-holds from 1999 through 2006, 20 were caught in foothold traps in October during the early fox and coyote trapping season, according to the report. Two lynx died in Conibear kill-traps last winter.

“When lynx are facing such increasingly challenging odds, it is biologically reckless for the state to continue to allow the use of traps that are known to capture, injure and sometimes kill lynx,” Fox said. “It is also illegal.”

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