About three years ago, my friend and I were walking our dogs about 1/4 mile from Pleasant Valley School. We came upon a nest of traps. I heard my dog Stella squealing and whining from under a tree. Her left front paw was caught in a trap. It took both of us working on it, but finally we managed to open the trap and free her.
Veterinarian exam showed that only the squishy part of her paw was held by the trap, thereby avoiding worse injury. She will probably have arthritis in that paw as she ages.
It was the fall of 2014. I was driving 15 mph with my dog, Toby, running behind to get his exercise. We were north of Pyramid Lake on BLM land. It was just luck that I slowed down at that time thinking to get out of my truck. Then I heard a scream. I followed the sound to find my Toby about 60 yards away, caught by the right rear foot in a trap. I tried immediately to open the trap and he bit me. But I managed to open the trap. There was blood on Toby’s face and my hands. I could see he had lost his two top canines from biting at the trap. But later I found out most of the blood was from the bait.
I saw another chain and another trap and could see the bait in a baggie on that trap. I contacted Nevada Dept. of Wildlife and was informed these traps were illegal because of the bait.
Toby was four years old at the time. His only injury was the loss of his canines. However he wouldn’t leave my side whenever we went out. I never thought about trapping before this happened to us. And I’ve often thought how lucky it was that I stopped the truck at that time. Had I driven further, would I have found Toby?
This happened about 35-40 years ago. We were living near Eureka. My dog usually went outside for short periods of time, always coming right back home. But one day she didn’t come back. My Dad went looking for her and found her trapped immediately outside our fenceline. She was already badly injured, having tried to bite off her paw. We got her to the veterinarian where the paw was amputated, but with lots of care, she survived. – Frances Wilde
[personal email] I live just outside Las Vegas, on the Kyle Canyon exit about 6 miles up the canyon. About the middle of January while on a trail ride my dog was caught in a trap less than 4 feet off of a trail, with the help of a friend that I was riding with we managed to release her and after making sure she was ok we continued on and 5 minutes later she has another trap hit her face, and the blow has caused permanent damage to her eye. I reported the incident to the police and they put my in contact with fish and game, who basically told me that I was breaking the law by removing the trap. I had no idea that trapping was legal in the area, as it is considered conservation area, and he was using a quad to place the traps which are illegal. I contacted the local news channel 13 who agreed to do a story on the traps which aired about 2 weeks later, the trapper agreed to remove his traps due to the bad press. And the neighbors dog on the same day as mine was caught in a trap while she was out jogging, they had to pay an $800 vet bill. I’ve lived in this area for 9 years and am horrified that they can trap so close to our homes and not notify anyone in the area, the laws need to be changed
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.
Luna was trapped at the entrance to Mack’s Canyon area in southern Nevada. Her owner achieved a settlement with the trapper and believes trapper ID should be reinstated. Luna licked all the blood away before this picture was taken; she lost a lot of blood, but did recover.
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.
