Search Trapping Incidents Database

Coquitlam, British Columbia – BC Conservation officers freed a black bear from a leg-hold trap in Coquitlam, and now an environmental group is offering a $1,000 reward to help catch whoever set it. On April 30, the BC Conservation Officer Service (COS) received a report of a bear with its paw trapped in the pressure-activated snare set near the Pitt River Boat Club.

COS said its officers called in police to close the nearby trail before tranquilizing the bear to remove the trap and examine the animal for injuries. The bear was determined to be in good health, and quickly relocated to a wilderness area outside the city, according to COS.

Although leg-hold traps are banned in many countries around the world, and several U.S. states, the immobilizing traps are still legal across Canada. Only leg-hold traps with metal teeth have been prohibited. Municipalities have an ability to ban their use within their jurisdiction, and Coquitlam did so with a bylaw back in 1979.

Sparks, NV – Valerie Lopez was walking her dog at Mustang Ranch in Sparks when she came across a deer ensnared in a trap. While she was trying to free the deer, she said her dog Duke also got caught in the snare.

“He’s like a 45-pound dog with a skinny neck. He could have broken his neck trying to break free from that,” Lopez said. Thankfully, Lopez was able to quickly free her dog, and the deer was later able to break out of the snare. After contacting the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), Lopez said she was surprised to learn that the trap was legally set, just a few hundred feet off the main trail.

Erin Myrick learned the same hard lesson just weeks later when she was walking her dog, Tru, on one of the hiking trails off of Disc Drive in Sparks in an off-leash area, when Tru wandered off a little ways on his own.

“I heard him yelp and I panicked, because I had just read about the other dog the week before out in Spanish Springs and I just knew it was a trap,” Myrick said. Unlike the one Lopez came across, it turned out that this trap had been set illegally. Myrick stated: “I thank God it wasn’t a kid who stepped in it.”

British Columbia, Canada – A northern B.C. woman experienced every pet owner’s nightmare when her dog, sniffing out the scent of raw fish on the side of a road (which turned out to be bait for the traps), was ensnared in multiple wolf traps. The incident occurred on a forested road just north of Kitimat, in an area frequented by snowmobilers, hikers, and dog walkers. The dog’s owner, Alexis Toews, is now urging all outdoor enthusiasts to exercise increased caution during trapping season.

Toews ran back to her truck for tools to release her dog from the wolf trap’s powerful grip when she discovered she was unable to open the trap with just strength alone, but when she returned, her dog’s rear foot had found another trap. A third had also been triggered and was now attached to the first. Toews called for RCMP assistance, but the two officers were unable to release the dog without causing more harm.

The Kitimat Fire Department was called in to cut through the traps with tools designed for vehicle extractions. After a tense two hours, the dog was admitted for a veterinary examination.

Gettysburg, PA – In the heart of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the Adams County animal shelter is on a quest to locate the owner of a Great Pyrenees dog recently found ensnared in foothold traps. The dog, discovered by a man who had laid the traps for coyotes, was immediately rushed to the shelter for urgent medical attention.

As the shelter caregivers began administering first aid to the dog, they discovered an old injury indicating that the dog’s right front leg had been shot and brutally damaged by a bullet and was infected. The wound was so severe that the Adams County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) had no choice but to amputate the leg.

Baudette, MN – When a northern Minnesota trapper checked one of his traps set in hopes of catching a bobcat, he discovered an illegal catch instead. An out-of-season pine marten was in the trap and appeared to be dead. As is required by law, the trapper called a DNR conservation officer to report the illegal catch. “He called me almost in tears saying he had a pine marten in his bobcat set and that he didn’t want the animal to die,” said conservation officer Nicholas Prachar. “And as I was on the phone with him, he said, ‘Oh, hold on, the eyes just moved.’ And next thing I know he hung up on me.” The man called Prachar back a few minutes later to say he had revived the animal by performing CPR. The pine marten was later released.

The trapper told Prachar he was so unsettled by the incident he decided to collect all 10 of the bobcat traps he had set in the area. The DNR did not release the trapper’s name, and said the man did not want to be interviewed. Prachar believes the pine marten survived the body-grip trap designed to quickly kill an animal because they are much smaller than the bobcat the trap is designed for.

Cuba, NY – A man in Allegany County recently had to contact authorities after he checked one of his traps in Cuba, NY. While he was trying to trap a coyote, the surprised hunter accidentally caught a young bear. The man then contacted Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Powers through Central Dispatch to get assistance.

To save the bear, ECO Bobseine brought a large piece of plywood. He then used a saw to cut an opening in the bottom of the plywood to be placed around the trapped bear paw. ECOs Bobseine and Powers then held the plywood against the bear while ECO Powers released the bear’s paw from the trap.

Arlington, MA – A fox that had their leg injured in an illegal trap needed to have the limb amputated. It was one of at least two recent incidents involving leghold traps, which have been banned in the state since 1975, that are under investigation in Arlington.

The injured fox was caught in a garage on Hibbert Street and taken to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, where the injured leg was successfully amputated. This incident involved a different fox from another one spotted with a leg in an illegal trap earlier in September. That injured animal was reported in the area of Avola and Udine streets in the week of Sept. 15, then again on Sept. 21, police said — they don’t know what happened to that fox.

The fox who was saved by the amputation did not have bones broken by the trap, but blood did not begin flowing again after the trap was removed, according to the Chelmsford-based animal rescue. Despite the amputation, the fox recovered well after the incident.

Manitoba, CANADA – A man who intended to kill coyotes in a set of power snares but instead killed two of his neighbor’s dogs has been ordered to pay $600 for the incident. On Nov. 20, 2022 conservation officers received a message from the poacher’s hotline reporting someone set power snares on a property in La Broquerie without permission. In the message, the individual stated he let his two dogs out of his home, and when they didn’t return, he went looking for them. The resident found his two dogs dead in a set of snares on his property. When conservation officers attended the residence, they located the two deceased dogs and found two more active snares with fox carcasses being used as bait. The accused man stated that he goes to conventions and holds an active trapping license. The man agreed to pay the dogs’ owner $500 to cremate the animals and offered to purchase new dogs.

Mission Hills, KS – Mission Hills officials say they plan to re-evaluate how to handle an increase in coyote activity after two dogs were injured in February 2023 after being caught in traps placed for coyotes at a city park. City officials say a city staff member is licensed to trap through a nuisance wildlife control permit, and signage and mailers went out as a warning the week before the “non-lethal” traps were set in an “unmaintained” corner of the park.