Posted by MarkRobison at 4/17/2012 10:43 AM PDT on rgj.com
Upon seeing yesterday’s story about David Fulton being convicted of placing a trap too close to a roadway — an action that snared Jason and Amie Ruckmans’ dog Gretchen — Kim from Reno wrote to ask if that trap was the same as one that caught her dog on Jan. 5. [ Photo is the trap that caught Gretchen] It is the same trap, based on the Ruckmans’ photos, except that Fulton later added snares because, he told me, something kept tripping the trap but not getting caught.
Kim wrote:
Our Cain Terrier, Molly was caught in a live steel trap near the South Valley Sports Complex on January 5 this year. I wonder when Gretchen was caught in a trap and if the live steel trap was the same one Molly was caught in.
I thought the trap was set up by the park authority because of the label attached to the trap.
Fulton had added a notice saying the trap was “authorized.” It wasn’t. (He thought it was authorized because he purchased a trapping license.)
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.