Boy's Dog killed by trap set for Coyote (live, safe)

[EvilEyeFleegle]

....Boy lucky to be alive.

https://a.msn.com/r/2/BByhTwf?m=en-us

Any traps like that in your neck of the woods?

[f5fstop]

Yes, I think.
That happened a couple weeks ago. And there are other states that have M44s planted by the USDA, WY and TX are two that come to mind.
Cyanide device on US land broke agency policy - KIFI

[banjomike]

I think the M44s are nothing but land mines for all wildlife. Any critter, not just a coyote, that's curious can be killed by one. Any youngster who checked one out could die- an elk calf, a fawn, a cub, or any domestic animal as well.

Poison has been used on coyotes forever, but back in the day, it was done by poisoning a carcass of a lamb, piglet, or something, and was staked and flagged with notices that were all large and on eye level to humans. Those wildlife land mines are unobtrusive, unmarked and differ only from land mines used on humans by the method of death they deliver.

Employing them in the first place was a criminal decision that should never have been made. Coyotes can be caught by many other means that are more safe to everything, and all the poison and delivery devices only work once, on one coyote only, at their best. As soon as one coyote is poisoned, all the others learn the scent of the chemical off its carcass and avoid the other devices the rest of their lives.

And just like human land mines, the damned things are soon forgotten where they are placed, but their hazard remains for years and years to come. They should be abolished!

[Clark Fork Fantast]

+ The poor dog dying, and the boy being traumatized for the rest of his life.

We lost our dog to a rattlesnake bite 3 years ago, and I can't begin to describe the grief and horror we felt. If her death had been caused by a nefarious device like the coyote trap--I can't imagine how we would attempt to contain the rage we would feel, added to the grief...

[banjomike]

What makes this all the sadder is there are folks out there who would like to have a job hunting coyotes and would do a good job of it.

I know several guys who once hunted them for Idaho Fish & Game or the National Wildlife Service, and others who hunted them for pelts when it was legal. At least two of them told me stories of spotting domestic dogs out in their hunting areas that had become lost or ran away.
One guy called the lost dog, and jumped into his truck. The dog was taken to the local pound, as he had a tag. My friend didn't know what became of it, but thinks the dog went back home.

The other avoided the person I knew, but was left alive.

I have a niece who once picked up a Border Collie pup that had wandered away from its owners, most likely from a sheep herder whose dog had whelped. It was in January. He was starving, and was trying to eat the frozen carcass of a litter mate just off the road. She flashed his eyes in the headlights of her car.
She stopped and picked him up. The dog was nearly frozen to death and was skin and bones.

He's old now, 16, a real old age for any shepherd. His name is 20, after the highway, and became one of the best working dogs in our family.

I hate to think what would have become of him if he had blundered upon one of those land mines. They are all baited with scent.