CLARK FORK, Idaho — A northern Idaho woman is calling for changes to the state’s trapping laws after her dog was caught in a wolf trap while she was cross-country skiing on a road.
Mary Franzel of Clark Fork says the trap snapped shut on 1-year-old Morgan’s right front foot earlier this month just off the side of Lightning Creek Road.
“Then all of the sudden, I noticed that she was not quite at my feet. And a few seconds later she yelped,” Franzel said.
She said Morgan is OK but she didn’t expect a baited wolf trap so close to the road.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought that in the ditch of the road, I would have to worry about a trap,” Franzel said. “I understand if I’m blasting through the woods hiking and my dog is running. But if I’m on a marked, maintained trail and my dog is within five feet of me, he could step in a trap. And I don’t think that’s reasonable for all public land users.”
Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials said the trap was legally set. Idaho trapping rules allow traps as long as they are at least 5 feet from the center line of a maintained public trail.
“A lot of times trappers will mark their traps, they’ll put up stakes in the ground and tie a piece of colored ribbon nearby,” said Mike Keckler, chief of communications for Idaho Fish and Game. “If you see something like that it’s a good idea to put your pet back on the leash and keep it close by.”
Fish and Game officials say they encourage trappers to avoid setting traps where there’s a high potential for conflict.
Franzel said she talked to the trapper on the phone.
“He said he was sorry my dog was caught by one of his traps and that he was glad to hear the dog is OK,” she said. “He said he’d let me know when he puts out traps again.”
Franzel said the trapper used a nonlethal leg-hold trap near the road, but said he set a different kind of trap farther away from the road that’s more difficult to release an animal from.
“I know they have just as much right to be out there as long as they’re following the law, and he was,” she said.
Idaho Fish and Game commissioners have declined requests to change requirements to have traps moved farther away from roads and trails, instead increasing emphasis on trapper education.
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