Kids Given Fur Traps As Part Of Goodie Bag Handed Out At Festival
GREENSBURG (KDKA) -- Goodie bags handed out to kids at a recent outdoors show have some parents upset.
One of the items inside the bag was a spring-loaded, steel trap, which is something not everyone feels is suitable for children.
It's known as a Conibear trap.
"They're pretty powerful," says Angela Pompa, of Greensburg. "I had a hard time setting them myself."
The devices are used by trappers in-season and sometimes underwater. They're perfectly legal.
While Pompa is not a trapper, she now has three of the devices after her children came home with them from a festival.
"They went to a festival at Keystone State Park," said Pompa. "And handed out in their goodie bag were these fur traps."
Pompa says the spring-loaded, steel traps were given out by Custom Skull Cleaning, which is a taxidermy outfit in New Alexandria. But Pompa says the devices should have never been offered in the first place.
"My main concern is children hurting themselves or others," she says. "Animals could come across these traps, pets."
Pompa knows all too well about that.
"A few years ago, we found a cat in a fur trap with her leg stuck in it," she says. "She [the cat] had to have her leg amputated."
However, the traps are legal, and Pompa admits her husband was with the children at the time they got the traps.
"He was advised there were traps in the bags, but there were no waivers signed," Pompa says.
KDKA called Custom Skull Cleaning, but messages have not been returned.
However, the Pennsylvania Game Commission says company's owner told them that adults were asked to surrender the traps if they were uncomfortable having them. Also, Pompa say Custom Skull Cleaning offered educational material on trapping and more.
"There was a demonstration on how the traps were used," she says.
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Legal or not, Pompa says kids shouldn't be near these devices.
"I'd like to have him contact these people and make sure they're being used properly or bring them back," says Pompa. "I think that some children will use these without parental supervision and could possibly harm somebody."
These traps have been known to cause major injuries to children; but again, they are legal when used in-season by a licensed trapper.
