A Sundre-area woman is advocating through Facebook to ban all leg-hold traps in Alberta, after she found her dog – that had been missing for 12 hours – caught in one.
Wendy Schroeder said the trap was on public land. Her dog Tucker was on the top of the hill on a public road allowance on Twp. Rd. 33-2, off of River Road northeast of Sundre, on Thursday.
She has been posting other incidents where animals have been caught in leg-hold traps on her Facebook page to create awareness and spread her message through social media.
“Just talked to Adam from Sundre Fish and Wildlife. How is this for madness: Legally anyone can put a leg hold trap on any public land and we are not allowed to touch it. That means public paths, crown land, road allowances, ditches, you name it. To hell with kids and dogs. Please spread the word on this, ridiculous,” she posted on her Facebook page on Saturday, attracting many comments from members of the public.
“I will do everything in my power to end this madness.”
Adam Mirus, Sundre and Olds district fish and wildlife officer, confirmed Friday that he was planning to attend the location to determine whether the trap was legal or not.
“It is trapping season,” said Mirus, noting that trapping is common in the Sundre area.
He was not available at press time to confirm whether he had been to the location over the weekend.
“Legal or not I think trapping is a barbaric inhumane method of taking an animal's life. We should be past trapping. And after seeing it first hand, what Tucker went through, I'm more solid on that. We shouldn't be doing this to animals,” said Schroeder, in a personal interview.
“That was probably one of the worst nights in my life. For a long time I thought he was dead. He always came when you called so I knew when he wasn't coming that he was unable to.”
The seven-year-old black lab's front left foot was caught in the trap, but Schroeder was able to free it.
“I was extremely emotional because I finally found him. The relief was so great after being sure he was dead -- being sure that a cougar or a wolf pack or a coyote pack had got him,” she said.
She saw a glimpse of Tucker's eyes glowing in the dark and when she saw his tail wag she knew it was him. She immediately ran in his direction, realizing why he never returned home.
“It probably was five minutes. I remember calling for help I was so panicked because I couldn't do it and every time I did he was screaming,” she said.
“His toes were so painful when I first took it off. He was just screaming. He was in so much pain. I thought they were broken because it was just right in the knuckles.”
Tucker had gone missing after he and the neighbours' dog Milly went for their normal run together, on public land. Milly returned home at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, without Tucker, but with a little blood on her muzzle.
Schroeder believes the dogs stumbled across the trap together and the blood was either from Milly trying to help Tucker, or from bait leading up to the trap, although she never saw any.
“We started looking. My neighbours all helped. We looked through the ditches and we put up signs on the mailbox. We phoned a bunch of people, looked through the fields,” she said.
“I kept going in and out to warm up.”
She said she didn't sleep or eat until she found him the next morning.
“Finally I got to the point where I just went out and it was really quiet and I just sat really quiet and finally on the back deck I hear clear as a day two barks from him and then a whimper,” she said.
“I went burning up that hill as fast as I could and I found him there and of course had to try to get that damn trap off and managed to get him home.
“He saw his bed and hobbled over to it and he was out cold. He was so tired he didn't even have a drink of water. He didn't do anything except lay down.”
She took the trap with her and called the Sundre fish and wildlife office the next morning. She believed the trap was illegal.
On Friday afternoon, she and her neighbours searched the area for more traps, but found none.
“I think the big thing is, luckily I found him.”
She said the people living in the area have never had a problem letting their dogs loose. The coyote pack in the area doesn't bother the landowners, she said.
“We have been told that if you manage to get a pack that does not bother you or your animals, or your garbage, or whatever, you should just kind of leave them alone. Because if you get rid of all of them you could be inviting a more aggressive pack to take over. And these ones have been pretty mellow. So that's why I think maybe somebody is after the fur.”
