July, 2011 told in person by staff of Animal Services: Trapped cats are common. Recently we had two incidents. The first was brought in by an officer.The cat was trapped by both back legs. The second was brought in by a good Samaritan in the neighborhood.
February 2011 email: We have ten acres of rural property. Somebody put traps on our property and our neighbors’ without permission. We have no way to find out who did this.
Since passage of SB364, law now requires trapper ID or NDOW registration number on all traps set on public land. And the public has the right to disturb a trap that poses obvious risk.
Spring 2009 Told in person
I was hiking with friends in Pleasant Valley approx. 2 years ago. My dog Stella usually checks in with me every 90 seconds, but now she was missing. Two other dogs with us heard her whining and led us to her. She was under a tree and caught in a huge trap set in the roots — probably a mountain lion trap.
She was caught by the back foot. I couldn’t open the trap, so my friend called her husband who came with a car and a hacksaw.
We finally opened the trap. Stella was lucky as the vet told us later. Although all the hair was scraped off her ankle, no bones were broken.She limped for a few days after, now can run again. But the trauma will cause arthritis later in life.
My friend was furious. This was not far from a residential neighborhood. The traps (there were others) were covered with leaves and skunk scent. She wrote a Letter to the Editor warning the public.
“Keep your dog on a leash” is unrealistic. We all hike with our dogs.
Jeannine Willis found an injured kitten in her Las Vegas area surburban garage the night of Wednesday, June 16, 2011 and took him to Green Valley Animal Hospital near Mountain Vista/Ramrod. He appeared to be a 2-3 mos. old male kitten with a “clamp” or “trap” stuck to his left front paw. The vet removed the trap, but but the paw was not only “dead” , but crawling with maggots, and needed to be amputated. The vet gave the kitten back to Jeannine.
But, Jeannine is allergic and could not keep him, so she contacted Karen Layne, Director of Las Vegas Valley Humane Society. LVVHS took him to Sunrise Veterinary Clinic where Dr. Henderson euthanized him at 5:00 p.m. June 17. The kitty had endured just too much. Karen now has the trap device. Las Vegas Animal Control told Karen it’s a mouse trap. But it’s 5 ½ inches by 2 ¾ inches long and Karen says: “It would be overkill” for a mouse or rat.
On January 18, 2012 at approximately 2:30-3:00 pm, my husband took our puppies to run in the ravine next to the South Valley Sports Complex. Gauge is a 10 months old German Wirehaired Pointer and Gretchen is a 9 months old GWP.
We have often taken them to this area to run (as do many, many other dog owners) and have never had any incident. Until yesterday. Jason was no more than 20 feet behind the puppies as they ran out into the ravine. He lost sight of them, whistled, and Gauge immediately returned to his side. Usually, Gretchen is better about coming when called, but she didn’t return. Instead, Jason heard her whimper, so he followed the sound to his left and found her in a coyote box trap.
She had been attracted to the bait meat and went into the cage. Jason didn’t realize that there were snare traps as well inside the cage, so when he released the pins to raise the doors and Gretchen turned to come out, she found her neck in a noose. It worked exactly like a zip-tie, so the harder she pulled the tighter the snare became.
Jason tried everything to release her from the snare, but it was no good. Gretchen was in a panic and bit Jason on his Right forearm, in his efforts to release her. He realized that he needed additional tools and ran back to his truck to get, something, anything. He found a pair of Lineman’s pliers and ran back to Gretchen and clipped her free. By now she had passed out and did not appear to be breathing. So he gave her two rescue breaths to resuscitate her. After the second breath, she rolled over on her tummy and was very dazed, but back.
We returned to the park a while later to try to identify whose trap it was and who would be so irresponsible as to set coyote traps next to a park where people walk their dogs almost constantly throughout the day. I called the phone number listed on the laminated notes on the trap. It said, Caution: Do Not Disturb This Trap. COYOTES CAN CARRY RABIES THIS IS AN AUTHORIZED TRAP. Call – – – For Further Information. A man named Dave answered.
His rationale and justification for doing this was that “a coyote as big as a German Shepard” not only attacked, but stole his dog only 4 feet from him in that very valley. So he was seeking retribution. And in doing so needlessly and carelessly put our puppies in danger.
Luckily, Gauge stayed right by Jason while he tried to rescue Gretchen because we found 3 other snare traps along the fence line, all baited with meat. I shudder to think that both of my puppies would have need to be rescued.
. . . It is very disappointing that the only thing Dave could be fined for was being too close to the roadway. Not for being too close to a park/playground. Not for setting traps that could endanger pets or children.
Not only was this experience unnecessary and terrifying, but my husband had to go get a tetanus shot and we took Gretchen to our vet to make sure that she was ok, which thankfully she is.