Idaho Fish and Game gathers stakeholders, examines body-gripping trapping conflicts

Post date: Jul 17, 2014 4:08:20 PM

To their good credit, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Idaho Fish and Game Commission have responded well to a series of dog-trapping incidents, two fatal earlier this year (Heilman 1/5/2014; Dolan 2014) and others (e.g. Landers 2013). The incidents have highlighted one of the problems of incidental catch by lethal traps and snares: they're killing people's dogs.

In this week's headline (Russell 2014), the Idaho Fish and Game Commission has voted unanimously to start making rules for new restrictions on body-gripping traps placed on the ground.

A previous article (Heilman 2/17/2014) had announced the formation of stakeholder groups (trappers, pet owners, other outdoor recreationists) to develop proposals for minimizing conflicts, to be forwarded to the Commission.

This response is in welcome contrast to the stonewalling that's still going on at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (Smith 2014).

Idaho Fish and Game

References:

Russell, Betsy Z. 2014. “Dog Deaths in Idaho Prompt Look at Trapping Rules.” Spokesman-Review, July 15. http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/jul/15/dog-deaths-in-idaho-prompt-look-at-trapping-rules/.

Heilman, Devin. 2014. “Trap-Related Deaths Catch Attention of Hikers.” Coeur d’Alene Press, February 17. http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_48001fce-4976-5da5-b84c-c1401644b6c2.html.

Dolan, Maureen. 2014. “Another Pet Dies in Trap.” Coeur d’Alene Press, January 28. http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_915a0d70-5f6e-56d3-bd94-4736cd2039fa.html.

Heilman, Devin. 2014. “‘I Just Don’t Want Anybody Else’s Dog to Get Hurt’.” Coeur d’Alene Press, January 5. http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_1f33594a-28f3-57b4-a564-73872a0a3d82.html.

Landers, Rich. 2013. “Dogs Vulnerable to Idaho Wolf Traps.” Spokesman-Review, December 15. http://www.spokesman.com/outdoors/stories/2013/dec/15/dogs-vulnerable-to-idaho-wolf-traps/.

Smith, Doug. 2014. “Trapping Debate Goes a New Direction.” Star Tribune, July 13. http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/266894411.html.