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MISSOULA – Individuals have been cited after a dog was caught in an illegal trap in Missoula and died.  The pup was caught in a trap on Hiberta Street, near the Clark Fork River on Sunday night, and did not survive. The two men set multiple traps within city limits, which is illegal, and were cited by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and Missoula Animal Control.

CHEYENNE, WY – Poppy, a mixed breed Labrador, was trapped in a leghold trap near a parking lot on public lands in the Medicine Bow National Forest, Pole Mountain Unit. The trap broke a bone in her foot, requiring her to wear a cast for six weeks. Poppy and her owner were hiking when she was trapped in a steel leghold trap as they approached a “distributed” campground at the end of road 712AA. High winds and a snowstorm made it difficult to find her. Her owner finally heard her screams above the wind. The trap was above ground, by a log, and marked with what appeared to be a crow wing dangling from a branch above the trap. After freeing her crushed foot from the trap, her owner carried her in a sling made from her orange vest a mile and a half in the snowstorm back to the car and then took her to a veterinarian. When the cast came off, Poppy was able to walk and soon run on her injured foot. The veterinarian warned that there was a possibility that she would develop arthritis in her left foot due to the trauma she experienced from the trap. The examinations, care, and follow-up visits resulted in bills totaling over $500.

Wyoming Game and Fish department staff discovered a dead grizzly bear in one of the agency’s baited traps early Sept. 30 — a first-of-its-kind capture-related fatality that nevertheless sparked dismay among conservationsts and other bear advocates. Trappers found the 326-pound, approximately 7-year-old male grizzly dead in a box trap at the Shoshone Lodge outside the east entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Troy police say a resident was walking his dog in Beach Road Park, which is a city park, around 2 p.m. on May 16 when the dog stepped on a trap and got his leg caught. The dog’s owner located several other traps set in the area and set them off so other dogs or people would not be caught. He was able to free his dog from the trap and the dog was expected to be fine.

Brad Dubach has been walking his dogs on different trails around Boise for 25 years. During a hike near Blacks Creek Reservoir, his dog, Rose, got caught in a trap that was intended for a different type of animal, likely coyotes. In Idaho, trapping isn’t anything new, but as temperatures warm up pet owners should be aware of where they could run across those animal traps.

“The old rule was five feet from the center of a maintained trail,” said Charlie Justice, a regional conservation officer for Idaho Fish and Game. Now, trappers are urged to place their traps at least 10 feet from the edge of a trail or road.

A Fairbanks trapper faces misdemeanor charges after he admitted snaring more than two dozen moose to use the meat as bait for catching wolves. Joseph Lyndon Johnson, 24, was charged in early January after an Alaska wildlife trooper investigated a trapline the man had set. The trooper, investigating the man’s trapline on March 21 near Hess Creek north of Fairbanks, found a trapped live wolf next to a moose carcass. He also found two marten traps, still set though the season ended weeks earlier.

Four Mexican gray wolves were trapped in New Mexico on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service over the last two months. The four endangered wolves included a breeding-age female that died and a male that was taken into captivity only to have his injured leg amputated. These two wolves are from the Prieto Pack. The other two were re-released to the wild and their whereabouts are currently unknown.