New Mexicans want safe, trap-free public lands!
Trap Free New Mexico is a coalition of citizens, conservation organizations and animal welfare groups who oppose the cruel, damaging, and dangerous practice of trapping in New Mexico. Under-regulated and outdated, traps put citizens, pets, and non-target species at risk, including the endangered Mexican gray wolf. We seek to ban traps in New Mexico for the sake of public safety and New Mexico’s native wildlife.
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News & Updates
Las Cruces Sun-News: It is time for New Mexico trapping laws to catch up
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...
TrapFree New Mexico Update and Action
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...
Albuquerque Journal Editorial: Nothing about traps is New Mexico True
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...
Sierra County Sun: New Mexico: Land of Entrapment
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...
Trap Incident Report: BLM land near Bernardo, NM – December 2, 2020
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,...
Albuquerque Journal: Dogs caught in traps rekindle debate in NM
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 Sun-News: ‘Pretty gruesome:’ Skinned coyote carcasses piled in desert likely the work of trappers
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...
Trap Incident Report: Jemez National Recreation Area – November 26, 2020
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...
Outdoor recreationists encounter horrors during the first three weeks of the ‘20-‘21 trapping season
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...
Farmington Daily Times: Trapping season is underway and dog walkers should take precautions to protect pets
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....