December 5, 2013 Email
We camped in the Blue Wing Mountains (Pershing County) during trapping season one year. Our dog Muttley was caught in a leg trap. My husband was able to free him and Muttley only suffered soft tissue damage but my husband was bitten in the process and had his own wounds to tend to. It clearly is extremely painful for an animal to be trapped! We camped in the same area the next year too. This time we hiked and saw a coyote pup caught in a trap. We were camped nearby and we had to listen to that pup howling and yipping for three days. At no time did we see anyone tend the trap. I came back to town and looked up the NRS for trap tending and was absolutely horrified to find out what it said. Clearly their suffering is extreme, and the fact that it goes on for 96 hours–4 days!!!!–before they are put out of their misery is unconscionable. Pain, no food, no water and then death. It should NOT be a prolonged process. We have a large state and such long distances trappers have to travel that I’m sure they claim it is unreasonable to have to check traps every 24 hours but we, as human beings, have the obligation to recognize the suffering of our wildlife and to make laws which limit that suffering!