Many folks remember the cartoon when Wile E. Coyote gently pours bird seed onto the trigger of a huge trap with teeth on its jaws to catch the Roadrunner. For many people, this is their first image of trapping.

As society changes with increasingly more people growing up in urban settings, fewer are exposed to trapping. As a result, misconceptions commonly arise.

One misconception is that trapping threatens or endangers animal populations. This might have been the case 200 years ago; but, today's state, federal and international laws protect the future well-being of wildlife species.

Laws that keep wildlife from becoming endangered are the tip of the iceberg. Nearly two dozen laws set standards for animal welfare by limiting when, where and how animals are captured. Some trapping laws date to the 1930s, when sizes of traps were first restricted.

Over a quarter of a century ago, trapping organizations worked with both state and federal agencies to make some sweeping changes in trapping regulations. They banned certain types of traps, required trappers to visit their sets more frequently, and took other steps to improve animal welfare and selectivity of trapping methods.

Laws are only effective when coupled with accountability, so trapping is highly regulated and laws are strictly enforced. In Idaho, traps must be marked with the owner's name and address or trapper identification number.

Trappers are also required to obtain permission from landowners or tenants before trapping on private property. Such laws help ensure that trapping is conducted responsibly, in terms of both wildlife populations and individual animals.

Any person trapping furbearers in Idaho must have a valid current Idaho trapping license. Idaho trappers are required to complete a harvest report each season.

It is unlawful for any person to disturb, destroy or remove traps belonging to others; or, to remove wildlife from the trap or snare of another without permission.

In the case of bobcat and river otter harvest, a mandatory check and reporting system is required for each animal harvested. River otter harvest is quite limited with low harvest quotas for each of the seven regions of Idaho.

Furbearing animals are an abundant, renewable resource. Legally trapped animals are numerous and their populations are secure. Wildlife agencies manage furbearer populations in much the same way they manage other fish and wildlife populations, through the harvest information provided by sportsmen. This information is required through trapper reports and the mandatory check and reporting system.

Furbearer populations are monitored with goals for managing those populations in the best interest of the public and for the conservation of those particular species. Idaho Department of Fish and Game managers use the data to set harvest regulations and implement restrictions to protect and enhance the species' long-term survival.

Harvest is not permitted for those furbearers which are rare; or, federally listed as threatened or endangered. These species are monitored using trend counts such as snow-track surveys to determine their presence and relative densities throughout the state.

The public is asked to assist IDFG by reporting any wolverine or lynx sightings to the nearest IDFG office.

Idaho has 10 species defined as fur-bearing mammals. These species are marten, fisher, mink, otter, beaver, muskrat, bobcat, lynx, red fox and badger.

There are no seasons for fisher or lynx as their numbers are low and they are considered rare. Lynx are listed as a threatened species in Idaho.

Raccoons were recently re-classified from a furbearer to a predatory species, however, trapping remains an effective method of controlling the species' numbers.

IDFG provides an opportunity to harvest those furbearing animals which are abundant. Most are harvested with legal trapping techniques only, while badger, bobcat and red fox may also be hunted.

Miles Benker is a regional wildlife biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.