Small game are also capturing lynx...? Pretty aggressive small game I hope you all prevail. Leftists are usually unhappy people so they try to make other people unhappy as well. I bet only a small minority of the people in that group believe in a creator God...

Bad news.Maine has already caved to them.

I am not surprised. The Lynx Zone rules for trapping are highly cumbersome. No drags, 18' of chain, no cubbies with more than 50" square inches of opening and traps still need to be 7" backfrom the 50" opening. Total insanity already.

Environmental terrorist!!!

It's usually conservatives who bring these..............ohhhhhhhh, wait, sorry. Democrats are the ones who want to stop trapping!

Zero science.

Lawsuit alleges Minnesota DNR isn't doing enough to protect endangered lynx from trapping
Lawsuit reignites a fight over the practice in northern Minnesota.
By Greg Stanley Star Tribune DECEMBER 18, 2020 — 1:04AM

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI • ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the Minnesota DNR, reigniting a long-running fight over animal trapping.
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A national environmental group sued the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Thursday, reigniting a decade-old fight over animal trapping in northern Minnesota.

The DNR is allowing hunters and trappers to set snares and other traps for small game — such as coyotes, martens and bobcats — but are also capturing and killing the federally protected Canada lynx, the Center for Biological Diversity argues in the lawsuit.

"It's really frustrating that the DNR knows its trapping program is capturing lynx, but it refuses to take a few common sense steps needed to prevent it," said Collette Adkins, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

Canada lynx have become incredibly rare in Minnesota, with a population somewhere between 50 and 200 animals, according to the latest assessment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Lynx are about the size of bobcats, with big feet that act like snowshoes allowing them to easily walk over deep snowdrifts. They're native to northern Minnesota and have been given endangered species protections since 2000.

While the lynx are protected from being targeted by hunters, they get caught in snares and foothold traps set up for other animals.

At least 16 lynx have been trapped in Minnesota since 2008, according to the center. At least six of those died.

"One of the most common traps that are catching lynx here are these strangulation sneers, where a cable wire tightens around neck," Adkins said. "The problem with those is they are so indiscriminate as to what gets caught, we would hope the DNR would restrict them in lynx habitat."

The center is asking the court to require the DNR to update its rules to require trappers to install "lynx exclusion devices," that allow smaller animals inside the traps, but keep the wildcats out.

DNR spokesman Steve Carroll said the agency hasn't been served with the lawsuit and declined to comment.

The center sued the DNR over the same issue in 2006.

The judge in that case required the DNR to make several rule changes to make it harder for lynx to get trapped in the snares, including limiting their size and prohibiting types of bait. The court also ordered the DNR to apply for a federal permit — called an incidental take permit — that would potentially include more conditions to minimize accidental lynx deaths.

The DNR adopted the rule changes ordered by the court. But while the DNR applied for the federal permit, it never received it.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service never approved the DNR's application. It wasn't immediately clear why, and a spokesman said Thursday he would look into the issue.

Two DNR officials — David Olfelt, director of the department's fish and wildlife division, and Sherry Enzler, an agency lawyer — blamed the Fish and Wildlife Service for never issuing the permit in a February letter to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The federal agency "has declined to undertake the necessary environmental review … or to otherwise act on DNR's permit application, despite the DNR's repeated requests that it do so," they wrote.

They also defended the regulations put in place after 2008, noting that lynx trappings have dropped overall and that deaths from the traps have fallen "to an average of one deceased lynx every two years."

The lynx population is so low in Minnesota that every animal incidentally taken is a major loss, Adkins said.

Greg Stanley • 612-673-4882

Greg Stanley is an environmental reporter for the Star Tribune. He has previously covered water issues, development and politics in Florida’s Everglades and in northern Illinois.
greg.stanley@startribune.com 612-673-4882 greggstanley

At “least” 6 have died since 2008. Seriously, 6? I’m betting more were killed by cars the last 12 years. Countless kittens killed by fishers, bobcats, wolves etc.
They are not difficult to release unharmed, and like most cats they don’t fight the trap much causing undue damage. Bobcats are more feisty.

Osky

MN Trappers--this lawsuit is a big deal. They already have a staff attorney in place right down the road from me.

He has listed his phone number and twitter account.

Let him know how you feel. I promise the radical leftists in this state will for sure. There are a ton of anti's just in Duluth alone.

Marc Fink, Public Lands Legal Director, Senior Attorney, oversees litigation in the Center's Public Lands Program. His docket includes a variety of endangered species and public-lands cases across the country. Marc graduated from Lewis and Clark Law School with a certificate in environmental and natural resources law, and received a bachelor's in political science from Florida Atlantic University. Before joining the Center in 2007, he worked as a staff attorney at the Western Environmental Law Center.

Contact: Duluth, MN, 218.464.0539, email Marc Fink
Twitter: @Marcdf


Here is the lead attorney in the case--based out of Minneapolis:

Collette Adkins, Carnivore Conservation Director, Senior Attorney, works in the Endangered Species Program, where she focuses on combating exploitation and cruel treatment of rare wildlife. She received her law degree from the University of Minnesota, where she also earned a master's degree in wildlife conservation. Before joining the Center, Collette was in private practice, where her pro bono work focused on preservation of endangered species and their habitats. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable John R. Tunheim in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Contact: Minneapolis, MN, 651.955.3821, email Collette Adkins

Thanks Seek.
I will send them my regards. Of course Tunheim was a Clinton appointee, that says a lot about her mindset.

Osky

No nonresident trapping won’t get much out of state support this time.

Weather or not we get support from out of state is beyond our control. I understand them not supporting this but dont agree with it! So everytime another state he with the anti everything's we should just kick back and watch because we can't trap there? Guys can complain about not being able to trap here but we obviously can't go there. So just let them get some traction here and watch it roll to the next state. If everyone has a self centered attitude we will all lose!

Billboards coyotes with fluffy in their mouths Wild cat wrapped around Bambi’s neck.
Hashtag. Predators must be controlled.
Only way any of this ends well is if we sway the COURT of public opinion. JMO

Male fisher kill adult lynx.The wildlife biologists here in Maine have been documenting that for years when they go check a collared lynx that is giving a dead animal signal.

Recently the first confirmed sighting of a Lynx occurred in Roseau county.

I think it was Bruce who posted the pic of coyotes having at a mature buck. Pics like that could go a long way toward swaying public opinion.