It will be illegal to use wildlife traps, snares and poison on public lands across New Mexico under a ban that takes effect Friday. New Mexico is joining a handful of Western states that have limited trapping on public lands, with supporters saying the move will help...
On April 1, Roxy’s Law—a ban on trapping on New Mexico public lands more than a decade in the making—goes into effect after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed it last year. Nearly 32 million acres of public lands, including state-owned parcels, national forests, and...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 19, 2021 Contacts: Jessica Johnson, Animal Protection Voters, 505-220-6656, Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, MILESTONE MOMENT FOR NEW MEXICO’S ANIMALS SANTA FE, N.M.—Last night,...
My entire life, identity and work has centered around New Mexico’s incredible array of public lands and the diverse wildlife inhabiting those lands. We New Mexicans are truly blessed. It’s no surprise that so many of us, including myself, flock to the soul-nourishing...
BY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD Monday, December 7th, 2020 at 12:02am New Mexicans have worked hard over the years to do right by the animals in our state. We have banned cockfighting, horse tripping and coyote-killing contests. We have made dog fighting a...
by Mary Katherine Ray | December 4, 2020 Many people are surprised to learn that fur trapping—the exploitative relic of the 1800s—still goes on today in our crowded, fragile world. Worse, the steel-jawed devices and wire neck-snares that trappers still use can be...
In early November, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish formally rejoined the federal Mexican Wolf Recovery Program as a lead agency. The department signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to establish a framework for...
Just in time for trapping season, a coalition calling itself Trap Free New Mexico is launching a new online interactive map that tracks incidences of illegal trapping and locations where dogs, Mexican gray wolves and even people have been caught in traps. Chris Smith,...
Traps and snares are a threat to public land users, their dogs and wildlife, including endangered Mexican wolves, who are caught, maimed and killed by these indiscriminate devices. Steel jaw traps have been banned in over 100 countries and our neighboring states of...
Dear Mr. McCausland, Thank you so much for shining some light on trapping in the US and in particular in New Mexico in your recent article. I noticed that you embedded in it a video of how to remove a dog from a trap produced by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game....
Defenders of Wildlife has learned that four more Mexican gray wolves were trapped in New Mexico on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service over the last two months. Two of these wolves are from the Prieto Pack an all four trapping incidents occurred in New Mexico. At...
It’s barbaric. It’s dangerous. It’s archaic and a practice whose time has come and gone. Yet unlike too many of its victims, trapping is alive and well in New Mexico. There are those who hope to change that – including a dog owner who recently saw his beloved pet...
A dog’s gruesome death at Santa Cruz Lake in a trap meant for wild animals has spurred a coalition of advocacy groups to call for New Mexico to ban trapping on public lands. State Reps. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, and Bobby Gonzales, D-Taos, will sponsor a bill to...
New Mexico’s wildlife is a unique natural asset to be enjoyed by all citizens forever. This is not some wolf-hugger’s fantasy; wildlife as a public trust is deeply rooted in common law and the judicial record of the United States. State wildlife managers are obligated...
The public only recently learned that a man intentionally set a leg-hold trap on public land to illegally capture an endangered Mexican wolf in 2015 (“Catron County man pleads guilty to killing Mexican gray wolf,” Albuquerque Journal, May 25). Once captured, still...
A federal magistrate judge is allowing a lawsuit that asserts a state wildlife agency’s decision to open a cougar trapping season on public lands violates the Endangered Species Act to proceed. The cougar trapping season, which began Nov. 1 and ends March 31, is the...
There is a trio of wildlife bills proposed this legislative session that would cost the state – and thus taxpayers – nothing in cash while earning them the moral high ground when it comes to respecting New Mexico’s wildlife and ecosystems, which belong to those same...
The debate over whether New Mexico should prohibit the trapping of bobcats, raccoons and other furbearing animals on public lands is far from over. Conservation groups scheduled a forum Wednesday evening to talk about trapping and a recent decision by the state Game...
