Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Traps – Choking or squeezing
Patent
1998-03-12
2000-03-07
Lavinder, Jack W.
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Traps
Choking or squeezing
A01M 2334
Patent
active
060324058
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to an animal trap--more particularly to a soft, bite resistant, leg-holding noose, activated, anchored and cushioned by a torsion spring, which is separable from a trigger mechanism. The noose is constructed to rapidly and automatically release non-target species and to enable target animals to escape unharmed if the trap is not checked within a certain time period.
There has been considerable effort in recent years to try and develop traps that capture animals more humanely and selectively than those heretofore available. The present invention is one such effort. It is an improvement on an existing genre of foot snare traps. Such prior art traps include U.S. Pat. No 3,060,623 to ALDRICH: U.S. Pat. No 4,581,843 to FRREMONT: U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,863 to GODWIN: Canadian Patent No 1,145,935 to NOVAK and UK Patent No. 397,268 to PHELPS.
All such traps achieve their objective in a similar way. By catching an animal with a loop round one of its legs and fixing the other end of the snare cable to an anchor point such as a tree, the animal is prevented from running away when it is approached. Target animals may be subsequently destroyed or dealt with in some other appropriate way, whilst non-target animals may be released, either by the trapper or, more desireably, by means that effect an automatic release. The activating springs and triggering mechanisms are predominantly single, combined units that have long metal spikes which, when driven or placed into the ground, keep the whole mechanism stable and parallel to the ground. The snare loop is then set over the trigger means at ground level and the snare cable hooked over the upper, active arm of the spring. The cable is then fixed onto some part of the combined spring and trigger mechanism, before leading off to be firmly secured to an anchor point. When the trigger means is trodden on by an animal, the upper arm of the spring is released and, as it flies back, the snare is pulled tight around the animals leg and kept tight by means of a "lock". As the animal struggles to get free, it uproots the combined spring and trigger mechanism and is then connected directly and firmly to the snare anchor.
The main failings of these traps are that they all inflict physical pain on the animals they capture. The bare-wire snare cable can sometimes cause serious damage to the animals leg and "jarring" injuries can be sustained as the animal lunges against the firmly anchored cable. Any attempt by the animal to chew through the wire can cause permanent damage to its teeth and the uprooted spring and trigger mechanism can also inflict injuries as the animal thrashes about. Some efforts have been made to pad the leg-holding part of the snare with rubber tubing, but this has limited effect, and a variety of cushioning springs may be inserted along the cable, with varying degrees of effectiveness, to reduce jarring injuries--the "Freemont" trap for example uses the activating spring for this purpose, but with the heavy, cumbersome and potentially injurious trigger mechanism still attached to it. "End-Rivets", securing the cable to the lock plate, can be provided to "pop off" and release animals larger or more powerful than the target animal, but these require considerable force to be applied directly to the animals leg, before the rivets will part, causing considerable pain and even injury to the animal, before releasing it--and also prevents further use of the snare. Because the combined activating spring and trigger mechanism is anchored parallel to the ground, the spring always flies back, away from the animals leg, frequently resulting in the snare being pulled out from under the animals foot, thereby failing to catch it. The arms of the activating spring also have to be quite long in order to tighten a large enough snare loop, making the trap difficult to conceal and the combined spring and trigger mechanism, being long and angular, make the trap awkward to carry and store.
The invention seeks to provide an animal foot trap that will be more humane, effic
REFERENCES:
patent: 3060623 (1962-10-01), Aldrich
patent: 3276159 (1966-10-01), Robards
patent: 4171589 (1979-10-01), Brownlie
patent: 4581843 (1986-04-01), Fremont et al.
patent: 4601128 (1986-07-01), Danison
patent: 4757639 (1988-07-01), Bertram
patent: 4920690 (1990-05-01), Olecko
patent: 5157863 (1992-10-01), Godwin
patent: 5675928 (1997-10-01), Tattrie
LandOfFree
Animal foot trap does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Animal foot trap, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Animal foot trap will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-351918