A device that trapped a Sundre-area woman's dog last month has been found to be illegal.
“This trap is not legal. It's got metal jaws that touch. They have to be a rubber jaw or they can be metal like this one is, except they can't touch,” said Adam Mirus, fish and wildlife officer for the Sundre and Olds district.
Wendy Schroeder found her seven-year-old black lab Tucker in a leghold trap after he had been missing for 12 hours on Nov. 28. He was found on the top of the hill on a public road allowance on Twp. Rd. 33-2, off of River Road northeast of Sundre.
The investigation is still ongoing, said Mirus.
It has not been determined whether the use of a trap on that piece of land is legal or not.
“It's not legal depending on how it was used. Let's say the land up there is leased. If the person has permission from the people who own the land then he can trap along the fencelines,” he explained.
“But you can't put traps on public paths and that kind of stuff. You can only put traps on land that you have permission to put traps on.”
There are also restrictions as to what type of animals can be trapped, and how, he said.
“For example you can't use that kind of trap on a leaning tree to catch marten. But you can use that same trap on the ground to catch coyote or bobcat, that's totally legal,” he explained.
“My suspicion would be that the person is trying to trap coyotes…People that put the trap out, they may be people who are concerned about coyotes coming onto their acreages or coming next to their cattle or whatever the case may be. So the intentions of the trap may totally be legal and justified.”
He said it is illegal for dogs to be running freely on public land.
Schroeder has been advocating on Facebook to ban leghold traps in Alberta ever since she found Tucker.
Tucker had gone missing after he and the neighbours' dog Milly snuck off together on public land.
Schroeder took the trap with her and called the Sundre fish and wildlife office the next morning. That day, she and her neighbours searched the area for more traps, but found none. She believed the trap to be illegal and that the person was trying to trap coyotes for their fur.
