Albuquerque Journal Guest Column by SUZANNE REED Many of us New Mexicans are – or know – people who “fair chase” hunt on our public lands. Our state Department of Game & Fish (DGF) rules give over 80,000 licensed hunters seasonal opportunities to shoot wildlife...
The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office has dropped more than 30 counts of illegal trapping against a Chimayó man after a Magistrate Court judge found the state Game and Fish Department had failed to serve the man with a search warrant and then failed to save...
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A Chimayo man was facing dozens of charges for illegally trapping animals after a family’s dog died in one of his traps. After a judge dismissed the case, animal advocates fear this will send the message that illegal trapping won’t be...
OCT 16, 2019 – SANTA FE – A Santa Fe magistrate judge has dismissed the case against a Chimayó man charged with 34 counts of illegal trapping, on grounds that the New Mexico Game and Fish Department failed to serve the man with a search warrant and failed to preserve...
SANTA FE – A dead fox was found in a trap on the eastern outskirts of Santa Fe Wednesday, and a WildEarth Guardians representative says the cage trap may have been illegal. WildEarth’s Christopher Smith said a runner found the trap with the fox about 15 feet off of...
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...
Trapping is cruel: trapped animals endure stress, dehydration, starvation, broken bones, dislocations, predation, and even self-amputation. Trapping is indiscriminate: unlike hunting, traps maim and kill non-target animals. Endangered species and companion animals are...
It may still come as a surprise that today, in 2019, it is still legal in New Mexico to set a steel-jawed leg-hold trap or strangling wire snare in order to catch any one of 16 kinds of native wild animal that includes bobcats, foxes and badgers, for fun and profit....
In the waning days of the Susana Martinez administration, the Department of Game and Fish and the state Game Commission entertained marginal changes to state trapping regulations. It was, in the words of former Game Commission Chair Paul Kienzle, “play(ing) some...
For immediate release August 22, 2019 Contacts: Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, Jessica Johnson, Animal Protection of New Mexico & Animal Protection Voters, 505-220-6656, Mary Katherine Ray, Sierra...
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...
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....
NBCNews.com March 2, 2019 By Phil McCausland “I just think the tide has turned. There are too many people out there on those public lands, and it’s like we’re walking through a mine field,” said a New Mexico man whose dog died in a trap. An illegally-set steel...
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...
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....
The death of a Mexican gray wolf and injuries to another prompted environmentalists on Tuesday to call on New Mexico lawmakers to ban trapping on public land. Defenders of Wildlife said four wolves have been caught in traps in New Mexico over the past two months. The...
After hearing nearly 2½ hours of often passionate public comment from dozens of people both for and against a bill that would make it illegal to trap, snare or poison wildlife on public lands, the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday...
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – As lawmakers consider banning all animal trappings on public lands, the proposal drew in a huge crowd at the Roundhouse. Critics claim it’s inhumane to wildlife and that both legal and illegal traps are injuring pets, even people....
By John Horning, Executive Director, WildEarth Guardians It’s always fitting to reflect on the life of Martin Luther King Jr., but even more so this time of year. I keep returning to his letter from the Birmingham jail. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice...
