[told in person] I frequently hunt for chukar. A few years ago I was hunting with 3 friends. We all had our hunting dogs with us. We were in a remote area. I suddenly heard my dog screaming. It took a while to find him; he was caught in a trap and pulling with all his strength to get free. While my friends and I were trying to free him, we heard another dog screaming. My friend’s dog was also caught, in another trap in the area. We eventually managed to free both dogs who were terrified and exhausted. There are many of us hunters who do not want to deal with traps, and think they should be much more tightly regulated.
Not the hunting dog in the story, but a different hunting dog found wandering loose and injured from a trap.
[told in person] I live in rural Nevada, and have a flock of sheep. I was distressed to see coyotes attacking and killing my newborn lambs, and called Nevada Dept. of Wildlife for advice. They told me they would come out and kill all the coyotes. I told them I absolutely didn’t want the coyotes killed. But this was all NDOW had to offer. So I researched on my own and found out that llamas will fight coyotes off. I purchased four llamas and keep them with my flock of sheep. I have had no further problems with coyotes.
[told in person] Although I hunt, I don’t like traps and will smash them whenever I find them. This is because my dog was caught a few years ago. My children and I managed to free him by smashing the trap with rocks.
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.
2005
told in person: My neighbor’s dog got loose and went to another neighbor’s yard.
That neighbor complained. So my neighbor tried to confine the dog, but the dog
got out a second time and went there again. This time the complaining neighbor
had set 7 traps. The dog was gone for a day and the owner was frantic. Finally,
they sent another dog to seek out the lost dog. She was found in one of the
traps with her leg broken. We then sprang all the other traps.
Trappers are in our midst – April 7, 2009 Letter to Editor, Reno Gazette Journal
I recently witnessed a sad sight. A large, healthy coyote, trying to cross Vista Boulevard in Sparks near the new Raley’s. I say trying because this animal’s left foreleg was a bloody stump, missing at the first joint. In obvious distress (panting, limping, in broad daylight), this animal awaits a lingering death from infection and starvation.
This animal was “trapped” in a residential area
where myself and others walk their pets. Legal or not, I will find these traps
and destroy them. Join me in action.
