FOOTHILLS : Council Bans Use of Leg-Hold Traps

The Los Angeles City Council has banned for six months the use of steel leg-hold traps used to catch coyotes to permit testing of walk-in cages that animal rights activists say are equally as effective but more humane.

Lila Brooks, director of the California Wildlife Defenders, said after the 10-4 vote Tuesday that she was “not very happy” that the city’s Department of Animal Regulation has been left to evaluate the effectiveness of the leg-hold traps.

Animal regulation officials defended the devices used to catch more than 100 coyotes a year in foothill back yards. They contend that the traps, padded with rubber, do not threaten pets or children. To prove the point, during a council hearing earlier this year, an animal control officer put his hand into one of the spring-loaded traps, which slammed shut with a bang, then smiled.

Patricia Beaman, founding member of the newly formed Los Angeles County Bar Assn. Committee on Animal Rights, told council members: “For a 175- to 200-pound man to place his fingers or fist in a trap designed to hold a 17- to 22-pound animal is misleading.”

Councilman Marvin Braude, who voted against the ban, noted that coyotes kill more than 500 cats and dogs in the city every year. He said cages are less effective than traps.