From below article.. re: Trapping..
In an e-mail to Jung, Lang Milligan, a long-time Reno hiker, said he has encountered animals in traps on his outings.
"Not a very pretty picture," he said. "I have had children with me, and that impression remains with them for a lifetime. They ask me why people would do such a thing."
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Many residents outraged in March by reports of animal trapping at Cottonwood Park in Sparks have triggered an effort to ban trapping in populated areas in Washoe County.
A state game warden cited a Fernley man last month for setting traps at Cottonwood Park along the Truckee River. He was charged with placing the traps within 200 feet of a road, Spice Island Drive, and putting a can of tuna as bait too close to a trap.
The Nevada Humane Society cared for a wet, wounded cat caught in one of the leg-hold traps. Wildlife officials shot a skunk caught in another trap and used it to lure the trapper to the site.
Commissioner Kitty Jung said she received more than 300 e-mails and phone calls from residents, almost all opposed to trapping to some degree. They oppose trapping in parks, along frequently used trails, in populated areas or traps that cause animal suffering.
Since then, Washoe County commissioners have encouraged the Nevada Trappers Association and TrailSafe Nevada to negotiate areas where trapping would be outlawed.
Their proposal then would be reviewed by the Nevada Wildlife Commission for inclusion in state regulations. It would be the first time that populated areas now off-limits to shooting also would be off-limits to animal trapping.
Eight states ban leg-hold traps, said Geraldine Ruger, a member of the U.S. Humane Society.
"As a taxpayer, I want to walk safely with my animal and my children on public land and not have to worry about walking through a land mine of traps," Ruger said.
"Maybe it's time for Washoe County to lead the state of Nevada to end this 19th century barbaric practice," said Elaine Carrick, a Washoe County animal control board member.
While supporting a ban against trapping in congested areas, Rex Flowers, a county wildlife advisory board member, said trappers "should have the same opportunity to enjoy their recreation, the same as hikers or birders."
While the trapping season is over for this winter, wildlife officials don't expect to have the results tabulated until late summer. In the winter of 2008-09, trappers reported taking 727 beavers, muskrats, coyotes, bobcats, foxes, minks, badgers, raccoons and skunks in Washoe County. Nevada has about 1,000 trappers who reported taking 9,744 animals in 2008-09 for their pelts.
Trapper Keith Ingram said feral dogs and cats get caught in traps just like any other wild animal.
"If you take a dog out, and it's running wild and chasing rabbits and deer, it's going to get caught in a trap possibly," he said. "It looks to me like stopping trapping in Washoe County is unnecessary and unfeasible."
Joel Blakesby, Nevada Trappers Association president, said in a letter to county commissioners that no child has ever been caught and injured in a trap. In what he said was an exhaustive Google search, he said the worst he could find was a scraped finger.
He said the trap used at Cottonwood Park had a jaw spread of about 4.5 inches.
"Not even the smallest of children have a foot that would space that divide," he said.
This is the second time TrailSafe has lobbied for trapping bans. The group won commission approval in 2007 to ban trapping along five hiking trails into the Sierra foothills in Washoe County, after Reno Gazette-Journal articles were published about Duke, a retriever whose face was pinched in a steel trap on the Jones Creek Trail outside Galena Creek Regional Park.
The incident sparked the beginning of the local organization, headed by Trish Swain of Sparks, that advocates for the protection and humane treatment of pets and wildlife.
Nevada Trappers president Blakesby said his board also would be involved.
"We've been there, done that," he said. "There's no reason we can't reach an agreement. We'll see what we can live with, what we can't."
Swain and Blakesby said the basis for negotiations would be a map of populated areas that are off-limits to shooting under county ordinance.
Washoe officials, however, say they can't become involved in regulating trapping. Melanie Foster, a Washoe County assistant district attorney, has advised county commissioners that state law empowers the Nevada Department of Wildlife to oversee trapping but grants no authority to local governments.
"We do not have authority to regulate trapping," Foster said.
Swain said she is disappointed that the commissioners won't intervene.
"I was under the impression public safety was the responsibility of the county," Swain said. "Just as one cannot discharge a firearm in a congested area, this law could be expanded to include setting of traps. It's very unsatisfactory that the county cannot regulate its own public safety."
Animal rights advocates said Storey County has approved an ordinance to prohibit trapping in congested areas. Washoe Commission Chairman Dave Humke said that policy eventually would be overturned.
"They are wrong, dead wrong, and someday, that ordinance will not be enforceable," he said.
Jung said she couldn't go against the district attorney's advice but hoped for a resolution that results in "safe riverbanks and parks where we know there will be loose dogs, loose children, as well as grown-ups doing their own exploring."
In an e-mail to Jung, Lang Milligan, a long-time Reno hiker, said he has encountered animals in traps on his outings.
"Not a very pretty picture," he said. "I have had children with me, and that impression remains with them for a lifetime. They ask me why people would do such a thing."
Milligan said one of his dogs was caught in a clamp trap while hiking.
"Takes two men to spread the jaws," he said.
Dr. Pat Colletti of Reno also is opposed to trapping.
"Believe me, growing up in Virginia City, we had a lot of three-legged dogs," she said. "I'd like to see the developed areas protected ASAP, and then, we must address the more remote areas, as there is so much recreation going on out there now."
rgj.com |
