This letter was published in the Santa Fe New Mexican on December 10, 2019 New Mexico has a problem with traps on public lands. The ongoing destruction inflicted by hidden, baited, steel jaw traps is well-documented. Public lands users, companion animals and wildlife,...
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...
New Mexico regulators have adopted new rules that will prohibit trapping or snaring cougars for sport, marking a small victory for animal protection groups that have been fighting for a broader ban of the practice on public lands across the state. The state Game...
For Immediate Release November 4, 2019 Contacts: Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, Mary Katherine Ray, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, 575-772-5655, Laura Bonar, Animal Protection of New Mexico &...
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,...
In what world does a man charged with 34 counts of illegal trapping – brought to light by the gruesome strangling of a family pet in a snare as her owner tried in vain to free her – get off scot-free because the state bungled the case? New Mexico, that’s where....
On the face of it, the announcement last month the New Mexico Game and Fish Department is considering banning the use of poison, as well as traps and snares in four high-use areas and at hiking trailheads, sounded good. Because after all, that’s what smoke and mirrors...
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is proposing to the State Game Commission changes to the trapping rules. These proposals are inadequate to protect people, pets, and wildlife. Please attend the Santa Fe meeting of the NM State Game Commission and share your...
State Game and Fish Department officers have charged a Chimayó man with more than 30 criminal counts in connection with illegal trapping — a case spurred by an investigation into how an Española man’s dog had been killed by an illegal snare trap at Santa Cruz Lake....
Drivers in Albuquerque and Las Cruces are confronting a brutal reality about wildlife management in New Mexico thanks to a series of billboards, bus shelter ads, and bus banners recently unveiled by WildEarth Guardians. The billboards feature a bobcat in a steel...
Guest Column by Christopher Smith, Southern Rockies wildlife advocate for WildEarth Guardians. If you’ve been around New Mexico enough, you’ve likely seen New Mexico Department of Game and Fish vehicles with stickers that read “Take a child hunting, fishing or...
The image of the fox caught in a trap near Placitas was surely startling to many Journal readers. In the weeks since the publication of this incident, a vibrant discourse has arisen concerning the merits and pitfalls of trapping and, more generally, managing wildlife...
A man who released a fox from a foot-hold trap near Placitas recently has filed an appeal that seeks to have his record cleared of a criminal complaint made against him by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. The complaint, filed Jan. 11 in Sandoval County...
Welcome to the Land of Enchantment, where: If you find a wild animal caught in a trap, you can neither free it nor put it out of its misery. You can kill as many non-game animals – porcupines, prairie dogs, rabbits, ground squirrels, Himalayan tahrs, skunks, feral...
SENATE MEMORIAL 100 53rd legislature – STATE OF NEW MEXICO – first session, 2017 INTRODUCED BY Pete Campos A MEMORIAL REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH TO ENGAGE IN A DIALOGUE REGARDING THE FUTURE OF TRAPPING IN NEW MEXICO. WHEREAS, New Mexico is...
By New Mexico State Representative Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales, Taos 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...
The founder of a Santa Fe animal sanctuary had three dogs each missing one leg. A woman from San Cristobal told of her dogs — and her fingers — being caught in animal traps. They were two of about 75 people from all over the state who traveled to Albuquerque on...