Senate Bill 32, The Wildlife Conservation and Public Safety Act, had four committed sponsors, including Sen. Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales and Rep. Christine Chandler, both of whom represent Los Alamos; as well as Sens. Brenda McKenna and Matthew McQueen.

Forty-five years ago my family came upon a trapped animal during a Christmas Tree outing in the Jemez mountains. I have never forgotten the sickening horror associated with that incident. Those who truly believe that mankind was created in the image of God must also believe that they are obliged to behave with the same compassion and grace as our Creator. I have seen with my own eyes that there is nothing graceful nor compassionate about trapping.

Passing the Wildlife Conservation and Safety Act was long overdue. I appreciate and thank all of those who helped make it happen.

Read this Letter in the Los Alamos Reporter

The post Passage Of Wildlife Conservation and Safety Act “Roxy’s Law” Long Overdue appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

She turned around to find her dog, Jessie, a 2-year-old Dutch shepherd, with one of her paws caught in a metal trap near the trail where they were walking.

“My little Jessie girl was crying and screaming,” Miller told the Journal on Friday. “My other dog was upset trying to console her and lay down next to her.”

Miller knew how to disarm traps – she and her dogs often volunteer on search-and-rescue teams in northern New Mexico – but she said it was still difficult to do in such a high-intensity situation.

After a few minutes of what she described as “initial panic,” Miller freed Jessie’s leg from the trap with only minimal injuries to the dog.

Her story is not unique. In fact, Jessie is one of at least three dogs caught by metal traps across the state during the first 26 days of the trapping season. The incidents have reignited debate about the ethical nature of trapping animals, often for fur to be sold on the open market.

Jessica Johnson of Animal Protection Voters New Mexico said it’s unclear whether there’s been an increase in the number of dogs caught in traps, because owners are becoming more likely to report such incidents.

Trap Free New Mexico, an organization that advocates for restrictions and bans on trapping in certain areas, has a map on its website of dogs caught by traps in recent years. It also maps out Mexican gray wolves caught by traps in southwestern New Mexico, most of which were released back into the wild.

Another recent incident took place in northern Santa Fe County. A black Lab named Mahlia stepped on a trap, severing many of her toes and trapping her in the same spot for several days until rescuers found her.

Kevin Bixby, executive director for Southwest Environmental Center, said that trappers are supposed to check all traps every 24 hours after setting them but that many leave them alone for days at a time.

“Sometimes trappers don’t check their traps and an animal will just die a slow, painful death,” Bixby said. “These animals become prey for other animals.”

Trapping is an industry that brought many to the West during the early years of the United States, where pelts of animals like beavers were valuable commodities. And while demand has decreased, many still set traps across the state for furs of coyotes, bobcats and many other animals.

And unlike in many other states, trapping in New Mexico is legal on private and public lands.

The state Department of Game and Fish found that more than 3,700 protected fur-bearing animals were killed by traps in one year, according to the 2019-2020 harvest report, mostly bobcats and gray foxes.

Those numbers, though, don’t include the numbers of coyotes or skunks killed during the same year, because they’re not considered protected. Johnson said those numbers could be well above 5,000.

And many times, the carcasses of trapped animals are left behind once trappers take their pelts. Earlier this month, a hiker in Doña Ana County found more than a dozen skinned coyote carcasses piled up together, many with obvious trapping wounds on their legs.

Activists are proposing legislation to ban trapping on public lands, to prevent further incidents of dogs being caught in traps. Johnson said it’s especially concerning that there’s no limit on how many animals someone can trap, different from many popular forms of hunting.

“A lot of traps are being set out there in unlimited numbers,” she said.

“Roxy’s Law,” which failed to pass in the 2019 legislative session, was named for a dog strangled by a snare in November 2018. The bill to ban trapping on public lands in New Mexico contained exceptions for game agencies to prevent livestock depredations, as well as tribal and pueblo ceremonial purposes.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Commission adopted trapping rule changes in January. The changes include mandatory trapper education, along with restrictions for traps near trailheads and in certain national forest areas near Taos and Santa Fe.

But Chris Smith, Southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians, said the changes did little but “stave off” what activists see as necessary legislation.

“This statewide problem affects wildlife, recreation, our tourism economy and our reputation as a state,” Smith said. “Right now people are relying on public lands more than ever. We certainly intend to bring this legislation back to make our public lands safer.”

The Journal reached out to the New Mexico Trappers Association multiple times but received no response before publication.

As for Jessie, Miller said that her dog is recovering and that she’s thankful she knew how to disarm traps, and she encourages other dog owners to learn how.

“We got really lucky,” she said, “but you don’t want anyone to go through that.”

Read the article in the Albuquerque Journal

The post Albuquerque Journal: Dogs caught in traps rekindle debate in NM appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Nogal resident Kathleen McDonald had climbed about 100 yards into the Lincoln National Forest when Jasper, her Golden retriever Jasper suddenly began yelping and crying.

“I went running down and he was about 200 feet away,” McDonald said. “I was shocked to see him stuck in a trap. He was trying to get out of it and chewing on his leg.

“I finally got it open, it took me about 10 minutes. His paw immediately swelled. He limped on it and hopped down. It was so upsetting. He was whimpering and scared.”

The 2013 incident is one of many highlighted by a recently released interactive map released by TrapFree New Mexico, a coalition of 14 advocacy groups that oppose trapping on public lands, which pinpoints animal trap encounters by domestic pets and other non-target creatures in 22 counties across New Mexico.

The map shows seven incidents in the Alamogordo-Mescalero-Lincoln County area, three near Farmington, one near Carlsbad and eight in the Las Cruces area.

McDonald said a game official who checked the trap that injured Jasper six years ago told her the trapper later was fined $40, because he had not checked the trap within the 24-hour period required. But the officer also warned that she could have been fined, if she had removed the trap, and that she should have kept Jasper on a leash, she said.

“The laws all are on the trappers’ side,” she said. “It’s absurd.”

A dog must be on a leash in developed campgrounds or recreation sites, said Lincoln National Forest public information officer Laura Rabon Monday.

“But outside of those areas, we revert to county ordinance. If it says dogs must be leashed off private property, then dogs must be leashed on the Lincoln National Forest. The national forest covers five different counties, so the answer isn’t simple.”

Lincoln County Sheriff Robert Shepperd said the county has an ordinance governing dogs running at large.

“They must be under the control of the owner with commands,” he said. “If they don’t obey commands and run at large, they must be leashed.”

Trapping for fur bearing animals is allowed throughout the national forest, except for beavers, said Public Information Officer James Pittman with New Mexico Game and Fish.

A ban of traps on public land in New Mexico is long overdue, McDonald said.

The strangulation death of a dog named Roxy at Santa Cruz Lake in November 2018 renewed efforts to ban traps on public lands and brought together the TrapFree New Mexico coalition.

State Reps. Matthew McQueen (D-Galisteo) and Bobby Gonzales (D-Taos) sponsored a bill to outlaw commercial trapping on public land called “Roxy’s Law” in honor of the 8-year-old heeler mix that died on a recreation area of the Bureau of Land Management.

In 2019, “Roxy’s Law” passed through two House committees, but did not receive a vote on the House floor. The bill won’t be introduced during the 2020 short session, but will likely be reintroduced in 2021, according to Chris Smith with WildEarth Guardians, a member of the coalition.

Trap incident map

Earlier this month, conservation and animal protection groups as part of the TrapFree New Mexico coalition released a map detailing trapping incidents around the state.

“The map shows trapping’s toll all across New Mexico, demonstrating that trapping is an ongoing problem for companion animals, endangered species, and law enforcement alike, according to information from the coalition,” a statement from the coalition noted.

The trapping incident map includes descriptions, locations, dates and photos of events involving family dogs, Mexican gray wolves, and illegally set traps based on data from New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, TrapFree New Mexico incident reports and media coverage.

The map shows:

• Trapping incidents have occurred in 22 counties in New Mexico
• More than 75 incidents involved domestic animals, some with no source cited
• In the 2015-2018 trapping seasons, 23 documented illegal trapping incidents
• Other incidents include outdoor recreationists finding dead, dying, or injured animals suffering in traps.

The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is considering rule changes, according to information from the department. The proposal includes closing less than 1 percent of public lands to most traps on land, some technical requirements on how to set traps, mandatory trapper education and increased setbacks from trailheads, but not from trails or roads, according to TrapFree New Mexico and the Game and Fish department.

The proposal also calls for expanding year-round trapping seasons for raccoons and nutria, and increasing the time frame for a trapper to check on underwater traps.

The coalition characterized the suggested changes as “trivial,” contending they would do nothing to address the majority of the incidents documented on the map.

“This map highlights the reality of trapping: It is indiscriminate, cruel, and has a major, negative impact on people and animals throughout New Mexico,” said Mikaila Wireman, who created the map for WildEarth Guardians.

“The negligible changes proposed by the Department of Game and Fish do nothing to address the real problems that trapping imposes. Until traps and snares are banned on all public lands, devastating confrontations with traps will carry on and this map will only continue to grow.”

Blue jay caught in trap

Another view of traps

Ranchers in Lincoln County annually pay toward a predator control fund that is included in the county’s budget under external agency requests. In 2019-2020 the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s predator control program budget request was $34,660, which is supplemented by a per head of cattle tax paid by ranchers of 75 cents.

“Predator management is key to the success of any livestock operation and most agricultural operations,” said Caren Cowan, director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association. “It’s a good method, because it targets the offending predators. It is safe to be done, contrary to what others might say.

“Trappers have to be licensed and many of the incidents we hear about are from nonlicensed trappers. Trappers get a black eye from those kind of people and 99 percent of the trappers obey the laws. They do trapper education. It is  just a part of the hunting, fishing, ranching and agricultural culture of New Mexico.”

Banning traps on public land would remove a key element of predator control, Cowan said.

“Land in New Mexico is comingled and checker-boarded. Sometimes pastures may contain at least two statuses of land, federal and private or private and state. But most ranches are made up of all three classes of lands,” she said. “So when you stop it on one class of land, you are causing serious damage to the landowner, who can no longer protect his livestock.”

Chance Thedford, president of the New Mexico Trappers Association, contended what is described on the map is an inaccurate account of incidents throughout the state.

“It’s statistically proven that the chance of a hiker or their pet being injured is more likely to come by a snake bite rather than a legally placed trap,” Thedford said.

“Ranchers in New Mexico have never been able to trap wolves on private or public land,” he said. “A continued false attack on trapping has resulted in inaccurate/false reporting by local news outlets due to lack of knowledge and education on the subject.”

The New Mexico Trappers Association strongly advocates for and promotes wise use of trapping and trapping education, Thedford said, adding that the group’s motto is “Promoting Wise Use.”

Members were angered about the death of Roxy and outraged at the decision not to pursue charges against the individual identified as the illegal trapper, he said, adding that the incident left a black eye on the trapping community.

“We continue to see the blatant disregard for a long existing law that requires pets to be restrained on public land,” he said. Instead, those lawfully trapping have been attacked, he contended.

TrapFree officials disagree, stating that trapping conflicts with the state’s valuable outdoor recreation industry and that scientific studies show that trapping and lethally removing carnivore species, like coyotes often exacerbate conflicts such as those with livestock.

They referenced “Using Coyotes to Protect Livestock. Wait What?” from the Oregon Small Farm News.

“The true toll that trapping takes on native wildlife is difficult to know. Reporting requirements exist for some species, but not for often-trapped so-called ‘unprotected furbearers’ like coyotes and skunks,” according to the information supplied by TrapFree New Mexico. 

Read this article in the Ruidoso News »

The post Cruel or essential? Map details trapping incidents across New Mexico appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

New Mexico, that’s where.

Chimayó trapper Marty Cordova was charged with 14 counts of unlawful possession of a protected species, 10 counts of failure to mark traps, and five counts each of trapping within 25 yards of a roadway and failure to check traps on a daily basis. A Santa Fe magistrate judge threw out the evidence and dismissed the case because the New Mexico Game and Fish Department failed to serve Cordova with a search warrant and failed to preserve evidence.

And oh, what evidence it was.

Game and Fish and BLM surveillance camera images captured Cordova and his pickup truck at the Santa Cruz lake trapping site where Roxy, an 8-year-old heeler mix owned by Dave Clark of Española, was strangled in November 2018.

And as reported by the Journal’s T.S. Last on Oct 15, the search of Cordova’s property turned up 10 bobcat skulls and hides from six bobcats, five foxes, a ringtail cat and a badger, all frozen. Those “protected” species can be trapped, but only in season and with a permit. Also found: Cordova’s cellphone, allegedly containing selfies of himself alongside some of the animals caught in traps.

It’s unsettling but not surprising that Game and Fish did not dot its “i”s and cross its “t”s to make the safety of domesticated animals and wildlife a priority. Roxy is just one of the many pets and wild animals New Mexicans have freed from traps and snares on public lands.

Perhaps the officer who forgot to give Cordova a copy of the search warrant affidavit or read him his Miranda rights, as required by law, was just having an off day. Ditto for the officer who tossed out the labeled plastic bags and containers that the carcasses and pelts were found in. And for the officer who deleted select images from the trail cameras.

Three strikes, and once again a safe public landscape in New Mexico is out.

As we wait for state lawmakers to finally grasp that public lands need to be safe for all the public – once again a trapping ban failed to make it out of the Legislature this year – it is all the more important for New Mexicans to weigh in. Proposed trapping rules dance around the gruesome reality that even with the updates it will still be legal to:

• Litter public lands with spring-loaded steel-jaw traps and snares, including along trails and roads and ½ mile from picnic areas, rest areas and campgrounds.
• Set out traps for coyotes or skunks, classified as unprotected furbearers, without getting a license.

And while it will be clarified it is illegal to take mink, river otter, black-footed ferret, coatimundi and American marten, traps, snares and poisons are as indiscriminate as they are deadly.

Ask Roxy’s owner.

New Mexico is so much better than allowing a vocal minority to inflict needless suffering and brutal deaths on animals in the name of “tradition.” We should live up to being the Land of Enchantment, not the Land of Entrapment.

That’s why New Mexicans need to speak up from 6 to 7:30 Wednesday night at the Department of Game and Fish office, 7816 Alamo Road NW. Or send comments to New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Attn: Furbearer Rule Development, P.O. Box 25112, Santa Fe, NM, 87504; emailed to dgf-furbearer-rules@state.nm.us.

Read this Editorial in the Albuquerque Journal »

The post Editorial: Roxy’s case reveals trapping free-for-all; NM needs to ban it appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

Marty Cordova was charged in February 2019, three months after a neck snare he allegedly placed near a hiking trail snagged and strangled a dog at Santa Cruz Lake Recreation Area north of Española. The dog choked to death while its owner, who frequently took the lake for walks, desperately tried free her from the trap.

The case garnered considerable media attention and led legislators to introduce a bill that would have banned the use of traps on public lands nicknamed “Roxy’s Law,” named for the 8-year-old blue heeler mix who was strangled. But the bill failed to pass.

The legislation was backed by the advocacy group Animal Protection of New Mexico.

“We’re deeply disappointed that the individual who allegedly killed Roxy won’t be facing any consequences,” Jessica Johnson, Animal Protection’s chief legislative officer, said Tuesday. “If no one can be brought to justice in this situation, there doesn’t seem to be any way to convict anyone illegally trapping and snaring on public land. We’re told by trappers and the Department of Game and Fish that trapping is a highly regulated activity. But clearly the current regulations aren’t enforceable if this guy is able to get off.”

According to court documents, Cordova’s attorney, Yvonne Quintana, filed motions in suppress evidence in the case due missteps by Game and Fish officials. Magistrate Donita O. Sena issued an order Oct. 4 accepting the motions and dismissing the case without prejudice, meaning charges could be re-filed.

But a spokesman for the Santa Fe District Attorney’s Office said the case is dead. “With the suppression of evidence we would not be able to proceed,” spokesman Henry Varela said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Game and Fish said that the matter was still under investigation and had no comment.

Cordova was charged with 14 counts of unlawful possession of a protected species, 10 counts of failure to mark traps, and five counts each of trapping within 25 yards of a roadway and failure to check traps on a daily basis.

One motion filed by Cordova’s attorney argued that evidence should be excluded because the officer in charge of executing the search warrant didn’t serve Cordova with a copy of the affidavit used to obtain the warrant or read him his Miranda rights, as required by law.

Found during the search of Cordova’s property were 10 bobcat skulls, six bobcat hides, five fox hides, as well as hides from a ringtail cat and badger, all of them frozen. Those are “protected” species that can be trapped, but in season and with a permit. The search also turned up Cordova’s personal cellphone, which allegedly contained selfies he took of himself alongside some of the animals caught in traps.

Another motion argued that evidence was spoiled because the labeled plastic bags and containers in which the carcasses and pelts found at Cordova’s home were discarded without the defense having an opportunity to inspect or utilize the packaging.

The third motion called for the suppression of photographs taken by trail cameras because Game and Fish officials selectively deleted images. “Absent disclosure of all photographs taken in possession of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (State), none of the photographs should be permitted,” Quintana argued. The photos that were kept by the department captured images of the suspect and his pickup truck.

The post Case against trapper of Roxy the dog dismissed appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

In Taos County, we are uniquely blessed with the natural beauty of the surrounding mountains, national forest lands and the Rio Grande Gorge. As residents, we all personally benefit from the wide variety of local recreation available, including hiking, camping, rafting, fishing and hunting.

Additionally, the incomes of many Taoseños and, overall, much our local economy are supported by recreation and the hosting of both New Mexicans and out-of-state tourists and sportsmen. For these reasons, there has been much recent concern over animal trapping as practiced on New Mexico’s wild spaces.

Commercial trapping is legally conducted on public lands in New Mexico, including the Carson National Forest. Regulations on the placement of traps are minimal — devices may be set only 25 yards from a public road or trail and only a quarter-mile from a dwelling without the landowner’s permission.

This destructive and poorly regulated practice is overdue for serious critical review that has unfortunately been lacking at the state level. The state Game and Fish Department and Game Commission, in their most recent review of the Furbearer Rule, which dictates trapping policy, refused to acknowledge the widespread public opposition to legal trapping and instead voted unanimously to expand trapping opportunities across New Mexico, including the opening of the Wild Rivers Recreation Area to coyote trapping.

This is despite the fact that around 2,000 trapping licenses are sold every year, many to out-of-state trappers. While relatively few New Mexicans engage in trapping, the practice has negative effects for many others who utilize our landscapes.

The post Let’s ban nasty practice of trapping appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.