Animal trapping, or simply trapping or ginning, is the use of a device to remotely catch and often kill an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including for meat, fur/feathers, sport hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.

Neolithic hunters, including the members of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Romania and Ukraine (c. 5500–2750 BCE), used traps to capture their prey. An early mention in written form is a passage from the self-titled book by Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi which describes Chinese methods used for trapping animals during the 4th century BCE. The Zhuangzi reads: "The sleek-furred fox and the elegantly spotted leopard ... can't seem to escape the disaster of nets and traps." "Modern" steel jaw-traps were first described in western sources as early as the late 16th century. The first mention comes from Leonard Mascall's book on animal trapping. It reads: "a griping trappe made all of yrne, the lowest barre, and the ring or hoope with two clickets" [sic]. The mousetrap, with a strong spring device mounted on a wooden base, was first patented by William C. Hooker of Abingdon, Illinois, in 1894.

Trapping is carried out for a variety of reasons. Originally, it was for food, fur, and other animal products. Trapping has since been expanded to encompass pest control, wildlife management, the pet trade, and zoological specimens.

In the early days of the colonization settlement of North America, the trading of furs was common between the Dutch, French, or English and the indigenous populations inhabiting their respective colonized territories. Many locations where trading took place were referred to as trading posts. Much trading occurred along the Hudson River area in the early 1600s.

In some locations in the US and in many parts of southern and western Europe, trapping generates much controversy because it is a contributing factor to declining populations in some species, such as the Canadian lynx. In the 1970s and 1980s, the threat to lynx from trapping reached a new height when the price for hides rose to as much as $600 each. By the early 1990s, the Canada lynx was a clear candidate for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. In response to the lynx's plight, more than a dozen environmental groups petitioned FWS in 1991 to list lynx in the lower 48 states. Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) regional offices and field biologists supported the petition, but FWS officials in the Washington, D.C., headquarters turned it down. In March 2000, the FWS listed the lynx as threatened in the lower 48.

The prices of fur pelts have significantly declined. Some trappers have considered forgoing trapping because the cost of trapping exceeds the return on the furs sold at the end of the season.

Beaver castors are used in many perfumes as a sticky substance. Trappers are paid by the government of Ontario to harvest the castor sacs of beavers and are paid from 10 to 40 dollars per dry pound when sold to the Northern Ontario Fur Trappers Association.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1900s, muskrat glands were used in making perfume, or women just crushed the glands and rubbed them onto their body.