Don’t miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/v6.0/plugins/like.php?action=like&app_id=2257877631166536&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df301873559b0eac%26domain%3Dwww.reformer.com%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.reformer.com%252Ff3193faf8c6c65%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=709&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbrattlebororeformer%2F&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&share=false&size=small&width=

To the editor: When I first witnessed images of terrified bobcats, foxes, and other wildlife with metal jaws crushing their limbs while humans stood smugly smiling over them, I didn’t know what I was looking at. I thought that it was illegal activity or maybe something from another country. I soon found out that not only was this cruel activity—trapping—legal, but it’s endorsed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (VFWD). Tradition runs deep in Vermont and some of those traditions run contrary to modern science and ethics.

When I started researching trapping in Vermont back in 2010, I quickly learned that it was worse than I ever imagined. It set me on a course that has changed my life. Much of what I come across is too horrific to describe in words, but photos and videos shared by Vermont…