Dog-injuring trap set in wrong location, advocacy group says
A trap that seriously injured a pet dog in Happy Valley-Goose Bay should not have been set so close to a residential area, according to the Labrador Hunting and Fishing Association.
Vice-president Hollis Yetman is a trapper himself, but said it's upsetting and disturbing to hear what happened to Bella, a Lab-Husky cross, last week.
The dog cracked 17 teeth trying to free herself from the trap and will have to travel to Montreal for treatment.
"I would not set a trap in this area. This is an area that's generally frequented by people that are walking. People that are walking their pets," said Yetman, who is also a pet owner.
"People that are generally exercising and it's in close proximity to a residential area. So, personally this is not an area that I would associate with trapping at all."
Last Friday, Peg Pelley was running her dogs in the area when Bella became ensnared in the leg-hold trap.
Yetman said the trap was legal — and often used for foxes — but there's no way of knowing who set it.
"Part of the problem is that it's difficult to identify who would own these traps because there's no requirement to mark them and there's no requirement to identify them with some type of number or name of the person who set it," he said.
Yetman said hunters are required to do a trapping course offered by the Newfoundland and Labrador Trappers' Association, but he wondered if that course needs to be more extensive.
"Maybe there should be more of a requirement — other than just the educational part of it — of a mentoring program, after the training is done, to help younger trappers learn some of the morally responsible roles rather than just the proper techniques," he said.
Yetman pointed out that trapping is a long tradition in Labrador and many trappers are responsible and would never set a trap in an area used by people and pets.
But for those who need more guidance — Yetman has some advice.
"There's lots of space to get out of town and practice trapping in areas where there are no people. So that's the biggest thing. They need to be responsible," he said.