Live trapping an animal (raccoon, possum, groundhog, etc.) may not be as humane as you think! I found out the hard way today. Death by 'lead poisoning' would have been much kinder. 
I have(had?) a groundhog problem and a huge vegetable garden (or what little is left of it!). I wanted the varmint GONE. Today. I know many folks swear by live trapping an animal and then releasing it somewhere else, but be sure you monitor the trap! (More on that below)
I normally hesitate only a little to shoot or otherwise kill a varmint destroying my garden or chasing chickens - I don't relocate to give the problem to someone else - but I wanted to be sure I could get a kill shot and not just injure the critter to suffer and die slowly. So last night I set a wire box trap near the main entrance to its tunnel system, baited it with cabbage, apple slices, carrots, and a bit of canned peaches in syrup. This morning, nothing. Adjusted the trigger a little, and went on about my merry way today.
This afternoon I come home to find a dead groundhog in the trap. YAY!!! I thought. I don't even have to shoot it! But why dead already? Then I saw. Blood everywhere. All over the cage, covering the inside of the trap door, soaking the ground..... It had clawed and chewed so hard on the trap that I believe it either bled to death or died of pure panic and shock.
Heat and sun might have been a contributing factor. I had set the trap in a little thicket of tall grass facing the burrow. There would have been little air movement. In full sun, 93-94 degrees, and humid. Strangely, when I carefully grabbed a handful of fur to lift the critter off the ground, its skin peeled apart in my hand - like thin tissue paper. Sorry so gross, but I wanted everyone to understand what happened to that poor animal because I did not monitor the trap to dispatch it quickly and humanely.
It suffered a horrendous and painful death. I'm so sorry.
Below are photos of only the burrow entrance, and the baited trap. Nothing graphic.
I have(had?) a groundhog problem and a huge vegetable garden (or what little is left of it!). I wanted the varmint GONE. Today. I know many folks swear by live trapping an animal and then releasing it somewhere else, but be sure you monitor the trap! (More on that below)
I normally hesitate only a little to shoot or otherwise kill a varmint destroying my garden or chasing chickens - I don't relocate to give the problem to someone else - but I wanted to be sure I could get a kill shot and not just injure the critter to suffer and die slowly. So last night I set a wire box trap near the main entrance to its tunnel system, baited it with cabbage, apple slices, carrots, and a bit of canned peaches in syrup. This morning, nothing. Adjusted the trigger a little, and went on about my merry way today.
This afternoon I come home to find a dead groundhog in the trap. YAY!!! I thought. I don't even have to shoot it! But why dead already? Then I saw. Blood everywhere. All over the cage, covering the inside of the trap door, soaking the ground..... It had clawed and chewed so hard on the trap that I believe it either bled to death or died of pure panic and shock.
Heat and sun might have been a contributing factor. I had set the trap in a little thicket of tall grass facing the burrow. There would have been little air movement. In full sun, 93-94 degrees, and humid. Strangely, when I carefully grabbed a handful of fur to lift the critter off the ground, its skin peeled apart in my hand - like thin tissue paper. Sorry so gross, but I wanted everyone to understand what happened to that poor animal because I did not monitor the trap to dispatch it quickly and humanely.
It suffered a horrendous and painful death. I'm so sorry.
Below are photos of only the burrow entrance, and the baited trap. Nothing graphic.
