Colorado Suspends Foothold Traps after Wolf gets Trapped

Summary:

COLORADO – Colorado Parks and Wildlife is no longer letting livestock producers set foothold and leghold traps after one of the devices set for a coyote caused the death of a wolf in May. The moratorium on 30-day trapping permits comes after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the death of a female gray wolf introduced through the state’s controversial wolf restoration program. CPW captured the predator in British Columbia and released it in Western Colorado in January.

In a late July press release, CPW said the federal government concluded the wolf died in northwest Colorado “due to an apparent secondary trauma” caused by a legal foothold trap set for a coyote. In response, the state wildlife agency suspended 30-day permits for the traps, which livestock producers sometimes use to remove predators threatening sheep or cattle.

It’s unclear how long the wildlife agency plans to maintain the statewide moratorium. In a written statement, Travis Duncan, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson, said state officials will provide additional guidance “as soon as possible.”

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