Search Trapping Incidents Database

A retired sled dog survived with minor injury the crushing jaws of a conibear trap set less than 10 feet off a trail near town. A woman who was training a second dog team for her kennel partner (signed up to run the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in March) noticed that Lucy had broken her chain and was following the team. The woman let the dog run loose and then, less than two miles from residential areas, heard Lucy start screaming. Lucy was roughly seven feet off the road, lying on her side still screaming, having stumbled into a trap set in the crook of a tree root. Slammed on her neck was a large conibear trap. The woman couldn’t free Lucy from the trap and set off with the team to get help. Lucy spent more than an hour in the trap before the kennel partner and a third friend arrived with bolt cutters and released her. A Fish and Game technician said the trap was legally set but questioned the experience of the person who set it.

The owl was found stuck in a rusty leghold trap in Moodus by a wildlife rehabilitators, who cared for the owl over Thanksgiving. The owl was emaciated, having been impaired for a long time and unable to hunt. The veterinarian the woman brought the owl to the morning after Thanksgiving determined that the owl’s injury was so severe, its foot would have to be amputated and it would never be released. In keeping with federal law, the owl was euthanized.

On Thanksgiving Day, a man and his nephew “were wandering along the riverbank just off the trail” that runs alongside the Big Flat irrigation ditch near the confluence of the Bitterroot and Clark Fork rivers. Their two dogs, a Norwegian Elkhound and a little Schnauzer, were nosing about nearby. “Suddenly there was an odd ‘thump’ followed by frantic yelping. My dog Rontu … had gotten caught in a leg-hold trap.” The dog, freed by the man, suffered no more than a serious sprain. The trap was apparently set illegally, and, incredibly, it was already re-set when the man, who had gone home to check up on the dog, returned to the scene to investigate.

A pet dog got caught in a body grip trap left for wildlife set on a road. The dog required vet care.

A walker coon hound hunting dog got caught in a body grip trap left for wildlife set on a road near a trail. No apparent injuries to the dog.

A pet cow got caught in a body grip trap left for wildlife set in a pasture. The cow experienced permanent injury.

While a man was cutting firewood “earlier this month,” he “heard the most bloodcurdling scream and howling of a hurt animal” over the sounds of his chainsaw. He looked down the hill and saw this 10-month-old shelter dog, Buddy, caught in a leghold trap. On his third try he was able to release Buddy, but not before suffering a number of dog bites. When he was finally free, “my poor little dog ran in circles for about a minute yelping in pain.” The man added, “That night I thought how lucky I was to be able to find him and free him from the steel trap. It was a very awful experience. I thought of others who might not have had the strength to open the trap. I can’t imagine leaving your dog in pain like that and driving to find help. I thought of wild animals that get caught in traps and suffer for hours until the trapper comes up and kills them. I thought this should not be legal.”

A pet cat got caught in a body grip trap left for wildlife in a marsh. The cat died as a result.

A cat got caught in a foothold trap left for wildlife on a compost/garbage site. The cat required vet care and experienced permanent injury as a result.

A cat got caught in a body grip trap left for wildlife. The cat required vet care and experienced permanent injury as a result.