November 8, 2011 Email : I have been asked to send a detailed account of the time my dog was caught in a coyote/bobcat or something trap.
We were hiking on one of the OHV roads about mile or so from the end of Johnson Road. The dog was off leash but mostly staying within 50 feet of the road, just running around sniffing and enjoying himself doggie style.
As we came over a rise, I heard a horrible yelping and screaming coming from the dog. I ran to where he was, and saw he had his paw in a trap. The trap was within 30 feet of the road, less than a mile from a subdivision of houses and was baited with a small white scented piece of rag. I covered the dog with a coat and released him from the trap. He limped for a week or so, but was OK. On observing the area, I found four more traps, all baited, and all within 30 feet of the OHV road.
The only excuse for putting traps in that location is pure laziness and complete lack of consideration for any other users of that land.
Good news! in 2019 most major fashion houses and several major retailers declared an end to fur. No coats, no trim, no fur at all.
Summer 2011: I found a trap this summer on the Toiyabe crest
trail, it had sprung and looked abandoned.
I have not run into any others over the years. I do not have a dog.
Letter to Wildlife Commission: I am a life long Nevadan and I lived on a ranch in Smith, Nevada. Some coyotes killed several of our sheep and my father-in-law hired a trapper to come in and trap the coyotes. Problem was, those traps killed way more than the coyotes, and I will never forget that trapper coming out to empty those traps, and talking about the other animals that stepped in them. I could not believe I was hearing those horror stories.
I cannot believe that these laws have not changed in all this time. The trappers need to check their traps at every 24 hours minimum, and if not,they should be punished. Each trap needs to have ID as well, to trace it back to its owner. If you have to have license to own a gun, trappers should be accountable for the deaths they are creating on public lands.
The horror that these animals have to endure is beyond what I can fathom, to let them suffer in them, is cruelty of the worst kind. Torturing anything is immoral and a disgrace. I would like to ask you to do the right thing here and update these regulations for the countless, voiceless creatures, that cannot speak for themselves. To lay dieing, in pain for days has nothing to do with good stewardship, and everything to do with a disgrace. Please help Nevada set a higher standard for trapping.
Thank you for your attention in this matter and it really needs attention.
Kat SimmonsGardnerville, NV
Trappers will say they “love” animals. They mean their dogs, alone among all the species.
2011 email: Pepple’s my Catahoula was first trapped in a leg trap and it took me around 10 minutes to figure out how to release it, and right after that she got into another one that hit her in the face as it closed. She had a cut over her eye and it actually hit her hard enough to damage her eye and she now has two different colored eyes from the trauma. I’m a Marshal for the courts here in Las Vegas and I actually got one of the news channels to come out and do a story on trapping, I believe it was channel 8, it aired later at night so I’m not sure how many people saw it. I found Fish and Game to be non supportive even though the trapper was using illegal means to travel to the areas where he was setting his traps, they even went so far as to inform me that I could be arrested for removing the trap that caught my dog. I’ve lived in the same area for over ten years, and ride my horses most every weekend, I never knew that you could trap in the Red Rock Conservation area, and have never seen anyone trap there before, and they certainly seemed more interested in chewing me out than citing him for illegally riding his quad on trails where motor vehicles are prohibited. I have heard many stories since mine, from people who hike in MT Charleston, whose dogs have been injured in traps, I’m still amazed that they are allowed to trap so close to trails where people and their pets travel. Keep up the good work. [Areas closed to Hunting and Trapping -per Nevada Department of Wildife ]
2011 Told in person: I knew five bobcats had recently been trapped nearby in Dixie Valley. I was hiking along a narrow ledge with my grandchildren. There was noplace to turn off the trail. Coming around a bend we saw a trap right on the trail. One grandchild almost stepped in it. Then we saw four or five more traps also along the trail.[Traps are frequently set in clusters or lines. Lines can include as many as one hundred or more traps.]
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.
