Refuge From Cruel Trapping Act

This bill would ban anyone from possessing or using body‑gripping animal traps on lands in the National Wildlife Refuge System. It makes a few limited exceptions and sets fines and other penalties for breaking the rules.

Key points

• What changes: Body‑gripping traps are not allowed on refuges, except in specific cases listed below.
• Exceptions: Federal agencies may use these traps only to control invasive species or to protect threatened, endangered, or “sensitive” species, and only after trying all workable nonlethal methods and keeping records. People may dismantle traps. Members of federally recognized Tribes may use them for subsistence. The ban does not apply in Alaska.
• Penalties: Violators can be fined up to $500 for each trap and each use, face up to 180 days in jail, or both. Fines rise with inflation. Traps and any animals or pelts taken with them can be seized. Offenders must also pay court costs.
• When: The rules take effect 120 days after the law is enacted. The Interior Department must issue any needed regulations within 120 days, but the law can be enforced even if regulations are delayed.

Short title: Refuge From Cruel Trapping Act.