Effectiveness of Kill-Type Traps Versus Leg-Hold Traps Utilizing Dirt-Hole Sets
An evaluation was conducted to compare the effectiveness and humaneness of kill-type traps versus leg-hold traps for land sets. Data were obtained for 448 trap nights which resulted in the capture of 49 animals in leg-holds and 14 in conibears. The leg-hold trap demonstrated a significantly higher capture rate for total animals (P < 0.01), opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) (P < 0.01), and raccoons (Procyon lotor) (P < 0.05). Conibears generally did not kill captured animals instantly and only 64.3% of the animals were captured by the neck or head.
