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Efforts to ban leg-hold traps in Montgomery County have stalled in the county's House delegation in Annapolis, after a push by the Maryland Farm Bureau to persuade local lawmakers that farmers need the option to stop animals that threaten their livelihood.

Although a Montgomery House subcommittee backed the bill in a 6-1 vote Thursday, the county's delegates voted 13-10 Friday to delay a vote that could send it to a House committee.

That sent the legislation back to the County Affairs Committee for discussion, where chairwoman Del. Anne R. Kaiser (D-Dist 14) of Burtonsville was the only member who voted against it.

"I don't know why we are singling out Montgomery County farmers," Del. Kathleen M. Dumais (D-Dist. 15) of Rockville said Monday.

Dumais who supported the proposal last year, said it sounded like a good idea to a "city girl" like herself then, but that now she is "not convinced (that) there's a problem to be fixed." Dumais, who is not on the County Affairs Committee, supported a motion to hold the bill.

Last year, the proposal passed in the House delegation and on the House floor but hit obstacles in the county's Senate delegation.

Ellie Trueman of Poolesville, who has organized support for the measure, said she is worried time will run out for the bill before the legislature adjourns in April.

The Montgomery Countryside Alliance, made up of residents who own land and farm in the county's agricultural preserve, sent e-mails yesterday urging lawmakers to support the bill.

While farmers are on both sides, Del. Karen S. Montgomery (D-Dist. 14) of Brookeville said she thinks many of the advocates are "hobby farmers."

Maryland Farm Bureau lobbyist Kurt Fuchs said that farmers don't have time to use "ineffective tools" and that both state and Montgomery members of his organization voted to oppose the local ban.

Animals caught in the leg-hold traps are "treated humanely" and are relocated, Fuchs said.

The Humane Society of the United States disagrees. It says the devices cause crippling injuries and that some animals chew off their legs to escape.

"If it's cruel and inhumane, why let the Department of Natural Resources use them?" Fuchs said, referring to an exception for the state wildlife management agency.

The Humane Society also contends that pets get caught in the traps.

Last year, the National Rifle Association mobilized against the proposal.