Sponsors (14)
The bill prioritizes visitor and non-target wildlife safety by banning body‑gripping traps on national refuges while preserving tribal subsistence and narrow management exceptions, at the expense of imposing penalties and operational limits that raise costs and legal risk for trappers, land users, and some state/local control programs.
Visitors to National Wildlife Refuges, refuge staff, and non-target wildlife face fewer lethal or injuring traps because body-gripping traps are banned across the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Members of federally recognized tribes retain their subsistence trapping rights on refuge lands because the bill exempts tribal subsistence activities.
Federal agencies retain the ability to use traps to control invasive species or protect listed/sensitive species after exhausting nonlethal options, preserving management flexibility for conservation goals.
Hunters, trappers, and private land users who use body-gripping traps on refuge lands face fines (up to $500 per trap/use) and potential criminal penalties, creating legal and financial risk for people who previously used these methods.
Forfeiture provisions allow confiscation of traps and pelts from violators, adding additional direct financial losses beyond fines and court costs.
State wildlife managers and local pest-control programs may face higher costs or slower response on refuge lands because the ban limits certain trapping methods, potentially hindering invasive-species or nuisance-wildlife control.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits possession or use of body‑gripping traps anywhere in the National Wildlife Refuge System, with four narrow exceptions: federal agencies may use them in limited cases to control invasive species or protect listed/threatened/sensitive species after exhausting nonlethal options; dismantling of traps; refuges in Alaska; and federally recognized tribal members for subsistence. Violations carry civil fines (per trap and per use, adjustable by CPI), possible imprisonment up to 180 days, forfeiture of traps and captured wildlife (including pelts/raw fur), and court costs. The Secretary of the Interior must issue regulations within 120 days, and the statutory ban takes effect 120 days after enactment.
Introduced June 24, 2025 by Jerrold Lewis Nadler · Last progress June 24, 2025