Martin Sheen Calls for Ban on Deadly Traps in National Parks

On behalf of PETA, actor Martin Sheen has fired off a letter to Gale Norton, secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, imploring her to immediately ban the use of snares and steel-jaw traps in our national parks. Sheen, who won a Golden Globe Award for his role as U.S. President Josiah Bartlet in the acclaimed NBC TV series The West Wing, was prompted to send the letter after learning that several dogs—who had most likely been abandoned there—were left to suffer for more than two days in steel-jaw traps set by National Park Service employees at Badlands National Park in Scenic, S.D.

“The pain and agony that these animals must have endured is unthinkable,” writes Sheen. “No animal deserves to suffer what these dogs did: dehydration, near-starvation, bone-deep injuries, and sheer terror—one dog chewed her own foot down to the bone in a frantic effort to escape.”

Sheen goes on to request that Norton adopt more humane methods to deal with dogs, cats, and other “nuisance” animals in national parks around the country that are currently using these traps to capture and kill domestic animals and wildlife.

All but one of the dogs found at Badlands National Park had to be put out of their misery. They suffered from swollen, bloody paws, their teeth had been worn down in the struggle to free themselves, and two dogs suffered from gangrenous skin and exposed bones. The surviving dog’s injuries were so severe that her leg had to be amputated.

Read Martin Sheen’s letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

Help Stop Animal Abuse

Forward This to Friends