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C. Effects on target species populations <br />** *Unlike hunting and fishing regulations, these are no restrictioMI on the number, size, <br />age, or sex of the animals within a species that a trapper can harvest, <br />* * *A trapper has no way of controlling which individuals of a species his traps will <br />catch. <br />The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission does not cond4ct annual field <br />surveys of regional fur -bearer populations within the state, and therefore his no records on the <br />populations of any species in any given area. The Commission depends oti the numbers turned <br />in by licensed trappers and fur dealers to determine significant increases o4decreases in species <br />populations 7. There are no limits on the number of animals a trapper can trap in a given area, <br />except a seasonal bag limit of 20 -30 raccoons in specific counties . <br />Populations fluctuate naturally in nature without human predation, end it is true that with <br />controls on humans' harvesting, these species would continue to increase 9j d decrease in a <br />natural manner. However, without any of these controls and direct, reliabl� indicators of how a <br />particular population is faring relative to the effects of trapping, the Commission cannot protect <br />certain species in an area suffering from over - trapping 9. <br />f <br />There are many regulations set for hunting and fishing. A licensed hunter or fisherman is <br />restricted as to the number of animals or fish he can take or possess in a daV and a season, the <br />size and age of the creature, its gender, the manner of taking, the aid of baits or lures, and many <br />other factors 10. These restrictions are part of an effort to maintain viable species populations. <br />There are no such restrictions on trapping, primarily due to the fact that traps are non - specific <br />and the trapper has no way of controlling the species, age, sex, or physical bondition of any <br />animal the trap captures. There is no way to control which individuals of i target species will be <br />trapped, and therefore no way to control the effects of trapping on a population. <br />r <br />Trapping can also upset the natural balance of predator to prey. W4en a large number of <br />predators in an area are removed, the different prey species populations indrease dramatically. <br />During such a population boom of deer mice in New Mexico several years;ago, over fifty people <br />contracted the Hanta virus from mice and later died 1i. Although some peajple would propose <br />trapping as a solution to a problem such as this, deer mice are not a species) which is commonly <br />trapped, or one for which there is a market. <br />Sumner 12/5/97 <br />a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission 27 ( NCWRC) <br />9 Eveland 38 <br />io NCWRC 9 -24, 36-42 <br />11 CAmenviron.htm <br />4 <br />