Animal trapping facts for kids

Wolf caught by foothold trap

Cage trap with shade cloth to protect animal from heat.

Animal trapping, or simply trapping, is the use of a device to catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, wildlife management, hunting and pest control.

There are many kinds. For a deadfall trap, a trapper digs a deep hole in the ground and hides it so the animal falls in the hole and can not get out. A snare is a noose that tightens around the neck or other part of the animal.

Images for kids

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  Trap nets used to trap birds (tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis); 14th century.

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  Sketches of life in the Hudson's Bay Company territory, 1880

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  Size comparison between two common types of spring traps: rat trap (above), and the smaller mouse trap (below).

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  Trapped raccoon

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  A journal entry featuring photographs of wolves in traps by Vernon Orlando Bailey, 1909-1918

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  Double spring steel bear trap (no. 5, S. Newhouse) made at the Oneida Community in Oneida, New York during the mid-nineteenth century. The trap features a chain with a swivel snap at one end and a ring at the other; the spikes on its jaws point inward. Traps of this kind were commonly used for black bear trapping and were set with clamps (these types are not used any more)

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  Conibear model 220 body-gripping trap, set.

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  Trapped shrew

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  A small Paiute-style deadfall trap, made with dogbane cordage.

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  Bear trap at Großer Waldstein in Germany

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  A British spring trap set in a wire tunnel for small mammals

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  Glue trap