Personal Conversation July 17, 2016
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?
-Brad Riley