An humane trap for small animals, such as cats, includes a housing having rigid bottom, top, side, front and rear end walls which cooperate to define an animal-receiving chamber, the front end wall being guided for vertical movement between opened and closed positions relative to the other housing walls. A retaining rod is axially displaceable within the chamber between a retaining position in which an end portion of the rod extends through a retaining opening contained in the second wall to maintain the same in the open position, and a released position removed from the retaining opening, whereby the second wall is displaced by gravity downwardly toward the closed position. The retaining rod is released either by a food retention plate that is engaged by the animal in the trap, or by a remotely controlled solenoid arrangement.