He Must Know Poem by Francis Duggan

Those animals traps i readily can recall
Displayed for sale there in his market stall
One might have thought that the ageing bloke ought know
That those rusty steel jawed things were outlawed years ago.

He must know that a wild life law he break
But that is the chance he is prepared to take
He'll part with his traps and a few dollars gain
For things known to cause death through awful pain.

He'll risk the fine for people like him don't care
For wildlife or neither would he feel aware
Of the agony that those things put creatures through
He is one of the unenlightened few.

A rabbit, fox or wombat maybe
Because of him will die in agony
With their paw caught in the trap they suffer overnight
For to be killed by cruel one with a stick in the early morning light.

Those traps for sale there in his market stall
For decades have been illegal and i can well recall
That they were banned when i was in my prime
And that's going back some thirty years in time