New Mexico in Focus host Gene Grant discusses public lands trapping with NM state representative Christine Chandler, Jessica Johnson of Animal Protection of New Mexico, and Chris Smith of WildEarth Guardians.
I have hiked this same area for the last 4 years. There are no trails, just cross-country. While returning from a hike yesterday our Heeler was sniffing around a tree like he does every trip, just enjoying dog life on public lands. I was no more than 10-15 feet away...
On a warm November morning, a man taking a stroll through the amazing trails south of Santa Teresa discovered a pile of some forty dumped animals. What he first thought were dead greyhounds turned out to be coyotes. They had been killed and skinned, and left with only...
Dear TrapFree New Mexico Ally, 2020 has been a painful year. The beginning of trapping season here in New Mexico is following the same awful theme. Already, several high profile incidents in the news have proven, once again, that traps on public lands are a serious...
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...
I was hunting quail near a dirt tank and lost site of my German Shorthair. I heard her start screaming and about 250 yds. upstream of the dirt tank. She had stepped into a #2 off-set jaw trap. If this had been a #4 trap, she would have suffered severe injuries,...
SANTA FE – Terry Miller of White Rock was walking her two dogs through the Jemez National Recreation Area on Thanksgiving Day when she heard a sharp scream. She turned around to find her dog, Jessie, a 2-year-old Dutch shepherd, with one of her paws caught in a metal...
LAS CRUCES – On Nov. 20, a man on his morning walk discovered multiple piles of dead and skinned coyotes off a main road near Santa Teresa. Kevin Bixby, executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center in Las Cruces, went to the site to check out the scene on...
I was hiking with my dogs when Jessie (Dutch Shepherd) got caught in the trap. We were in the Jemez Recreation Area close to FR 376. There are no trailheads in this area, just well traveled 4×4 roads and trails. We were on one of my favorite trails from FR 376 that...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 25, 2020 New Mexicans are warned of gruesome sights and danger while on public lands over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend—on the two-year anniversary of the death of “Roxy,” the dog who became the namesake for anti-trapping legislation...
AZTEC — It isn’t unusual for James Stackhouse’s husky, Ivy, to disappear for a couple minutes while they are out hiking. She’s never out of sight for long and, at first, he didn’t think much about her absence as they were hiking near Lake Farmington on Nov. 14....
For Immediate Release October 30, 2020 Contacts: Chris Smith, WildEarth Guardians, 505-395-6177, Jessica Johnson, Animal Protection Voters, 505-220-6656, Private, commercial traps will be hidden across BLM, Forest...
Dear TrapFree Ally, Hopefully you are well in these difficult times! We are reaching out less than 2 months before New Mexico’s landscapes will once again be dotted with private, commercial traps waiting for unsuspecting paws, claws, and feet and an election that will...
By Sherry Robinson New Mexico wants the traveling public to think of the state as a destination for outdoor recreation. For those of us who hike, bike, fish, hunt, and golf, that seems pretty obvious. The tourism industry and economic developers are on board. However,...
ALBUQUERQUE — Trappers now have to complete an education course and new restrictions will be imposed on setting wildlife traps and snares around designated trailheads and on select tracts of public lands in New Mexico under a measure adopted Friday by the State Game...
LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico State Game Commission voted 5-2 to extend certain restrictions on trapping during its public meeting in Las Cruces Friday. The change mandates that anyone purchasing a trapping license undergo a mandatory trapping education course that...
Wolves, pets remain at risk The New Mexico Game Commission approved trapping of bobcats, foxes, and other wildlife throughout the state on January 17. The decision reauthorizes the use of leghold traps, body-crushing traps, and strangulation snares that have killed...
Trapping has been touted by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish staff as a “legitimate” and “valuable” wildlife management tool. However, the type and scope of trapping is never specified nor are the reasons stated for its necessity. There are no...
It is hard to believe the state ⏤ always in need of revenue ⏤ is intentionally acting to decrease its most dependable revenue stream: tourism. This is unimaginable; the state is acting to purposely lose residents and tourists by condoning and actively perpetuating...
