Search Trapping Incidents Database

Taking a break from preparing Thanksgiving dinner, caregiver took her 4 dogs for a walk down a country road. Basil ran into a roadside ditch and never came back. His caregiver spotted his limp body in a 220 Conibear trap; her husband, who retrieved the body, said Basil had died instantly when his neck was broken. The trap was illegal, being larger than legal limits as well as baited with a dead opossum.

A steel trap snapped shut along Jones Creek, pinching the folds of flesh on a retriever’s face and causing the dog to yelp in pain. The dog was freed unharmed. The trap was set legally.

While the dog’s caregivers walked along a road just two miles from their property, the dog ran into a little cave and was caught in a leghold trap on her front right paw pad and toes. Both caregivers were bitten as they worked to get the dog out of the trap. The dog was not seriously injured. The trap was set illegally on private property and Nevada Department of Wildlife authorities are investigating.

Ace was caught in a Conibear trap baited with fish near a trout stream just down the road from the house of Ace’s caregiver’s boyfriend. Ace was in the trap for a night.

In a wooded area surrounded by homes filled with dogs, cats, birds, and children, Billi was trapped for about 20 hours in the snare trap before being cut loose. The trap was legally set.

Abandoned by his guardians who moved from an apartment complex, Dan disappeared for a week before reappearing dragging the leghold trap. His front paw was almost severed off and had to be amputated. According to the attending veterinarian, Dan had been in the trap for at least 48 hours. Dan is now in the foster care of a volunteer for United Paws of America, a local all-volunteer spay/neuter non-profit group. Police are investigating the source of the trap.

Along a river bank 1/2 mile from home, Maggie and Lokee were trapped in a snare for 55 hours. Maggie lay beside her buddy’s body for over two days before the dogs were found, and her personality is now completely changed. The owner of the trap was never found.

Near a farm in the woods, a man cut his finger while trying to remove a raccoon that he had trapped. The man did not seek treatment at the hospital because of the nature of the incident.

A woman rescued a Red fox that was in a coyote trap. The fox — “a gorgeous adult male weighing 11.6 lbs” — had to have two of his toes surgically removed this afternoon, but he is otherwise ok. Nearby was found a pile of skinned fox carcasses nearby. The trap was illegally set.

A three-week search for a dog caught in a leghold trap ended when local police received a tip that the dog was in a garage at a local residence. The dog, named Holly because the search had extended through the Christmas holidays, had been spotted near the center of town on 12/16/06. Though the leg was not broken, wounds from the prolonged pressure of the trap had penetrated to the bone and could not be repaired. The leg was removed at the shoulder, and a full recovery is expected. At press time the owner of the probably illegal trap had not been indentified.