Search Trapping Incidents Database

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.

Wai’alae Nui, HI — A family found a neighbor’s cat caught in a steel-jaw leghold trap in their front yard and rushed him to the vet where he later died. An unknown person had tied the trap to a tree in their yard.

A man was walking his 2 dogs in a wooded area near his home when 1 of the dogs ran down to the creek and was caught by the head in a conibear trap. The man struggled to remove the trap for several minutes but the dog died before he was successful. The trap was set legally.

A woman walking her Brittany spaniel on public property let the dog off the leash to run. The dog was caught by the head in a trap baited with fish guts. The woman could not remove the trap and stayed with her dog until she died. The woman then walked to the police station.

Maquoketa, IA — Jackson County Sheriff’s Department found a dog caught in a leghold in rural Maquoketa. The dog’s leg eventually was amputated.

Olie ran into a Conibear trap during a walk. Once the man noticed Olie was missing it took him 3 to 4 minutes to find the dog in the grass. Olie could not emit any sound because the trap had such a tight grasp around his neck and body. The man struggled to remove the dog for about 5 minutes but it was too late.

dog was caught by a Conibear trap set on private property without the landowner’s permission. The dog belonged to the landowner. The trapper was cited for trespassing by the sheriff’s department, but was not charged with any violation of trapping regulations by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources since the trap set was set legally.

A woman walking her dog on BLM land witnessed the animal stepping into a leghold trap. The trap caught the dog’s foot and the woman tried for several minutes to pry the dog free. The woman gave up on prying open the trap and dug up the trap from the ground and drove the trapped dog about 30 minutes to a vet. It was there that the dog was released and has recovered from the incident.

Camping at the Blind Sucker State Campground during deer hunting season, Pivo’s caregivers were very careful to be wearing orange, even on the dog. Pivo wandered approximately 40 feet from the designated campsite. She tripped, but was not hurt by, a leg trap, but five minutes later she found the Conibear trap that killed her. There were no tags on the traps and both were lying on the ground and set. Pivo’s caregivers were unable to remove the trap from her neck before she was asphyxiated within minutes.

A dog was caught in a Conibear trap in an abandoned lane near the family’s rural residence. Although Hakata Sioux was trapped for 30 minutes, she was rescued in time to suffer no more than bruises and “emotional trauma.”