Search Trapping Incidents Database

Swan Creek Road off Gallatin Canyon, near Big Sky, MT — A man let his dog, Bull, out of the car to run for exercise. When Bull failed to return, the man followed his tracks and found him “fatally caught in a snare trap.” The trap was legally set.

The Labrador retriever puppies strayed from home and were caught and killed in raccoon traps. The trapper who found them buried the bodies so it would like the dogs were stolen, on the assumption that the children who loved the dogs might be comforted if they thought the dogs were stolen and therefore still alive.

A high school junior reported catching a 60-pound black bear cub in a trap set for fox. After hearing snarling noises in the woods behind his home, he found the bear in the trap and called the Pennsylvania Game Commission, who came to the scene and tranquilized the bear and released it into the woods. (2 or 3 bear cubs are caught by traps every year in Pennsylvania.)

A bald eagle with a missing leg and talon was brought to the Wildlife Rehab Center of the North Coast. The rehabilitators suspected that the injury was caused by a steel-jaw leghold trap. The stress on the one leg was causing the eagle many problems and the rehabilitators decided not to re-release the bird back into the wild.

A trapper employed by the federal government’s Wildlife Services was investigated for trapping, killing, and failing to report a golden eagle caught in a government leghold trap. The eagle was found alive and struggling by 8 teenagers and their instructor while they were hiking in a wilderness therapy program. When a conservation officer arrived at the scene the eagle was gone; only feathers and blood remained.

Lenoir County, NC — 2 beagles were dropped in the overnight box at a animal shelter after being caught in leghold traps.

A dog was caught by snare set on a farm while on a walk with caregiver. The snare, though placed in an area heavily frequented by dogs and their caregivers, was set legally.

A hunter had placed Shiela and 2 other dogsin an enclosed running pen on his property. When he returned later in the evening, he found the pen empty and evidence a coyote had dug into the pen. The dogs had tracking collars, and the hunter searched for them. When he found Shiela, she had been killed in a snare trap, designed to choke a coyote in a wire lasso. The trap was illegally placed and out of season.

Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, VT — Levi was killed by a conibear trap set in the refuge and baited with a muskrat carcass. Officials from Vermont’s Fish and Game Department unapologetically told Levi’s caregiver that the trap was set legally and that she should not have allowed her dog to be without a leash.

Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada — Brutus suffocated when a beaver trap snapped over his throat. The dog went limp after about a minute of struggling. The trap was set beside a stream that is only about 100 meters from the road. There were no signs warning about the trap. Following this incident, the City of Port Coquitlam took immediate action to remove beaver traps from public property.