Dog Caught in Snare at Long Lake December 22, 2009

A professional dog walker - Adina MacRae - had one of her dogs caught in a hunters snare, less than 15 feet off one of the trails at Long Lake Provincial Park, near the Prospect Road entrance on December 22, 2009. The dog lived - but he was in the process of being suffocated to death when she found him. Another dog owner who didn't know how to release a dog from a snare, or a dog who was freaking out, or a dog owner who didn't find the dog almost immediately - would have had a very different outcome.

The snare was illegally set - it was set in a provincial park, only 15 or so feet from the trail. Instead of a dog - it could have been a child - and the dog could have been on-leash with the aid of a flexi-leash extenda-leash.

However - when you are out walking your dogs - you should always have your dogs what the Provincial government considers to be NOT "running at large", and that is -

(click on the photos if you can't read what the little texty thing says)

So "at large" means - out of your view, and not within your sight. And depending on where you are - if your dog is out of your view - it is LEGAL for hunters to shoot your dog. So not only can your dog get caught in snares - some yahoo can shoot him. And it's legal. So if you want to keep everyone safe - no matter where you are out in the woods - keep your dogs close.

Here is the law, such as it is -



And here is information to keep handy if the horrible happens, and your dog encounters a snare -





The document has a little section on "how to keep your dog safe" -



You can find this document in it's entirety at http://www.gov.ns.ca/natr/wildlife/pdf/PetOwners.pdf - I've cut it up here and just put the good bits, because there's some spots that I find somewhat objectionable - like where it says that you should "train your dog on a tether" so that if he gets caught in a trap when your out he won't freak out so bad, and another section where they think they need to give us dog owners advice on the right way to "contain" our dogs when we aren't home -



I guess leaving them inside so that they can hang out on our beds, or on the couch - didn't occur to the people writing this document. Sheesh.

Having this happen has brought back a post to my mind - it's from back in February of this year - and the title of the post was - Is there a serial dog murderer in the HRM? I just wonder why a snare would be set so close to a trail that hundreds of dogs walk on every week. In a park that is a highly disputed off leash area. It can make a person think. Keep a close eye on your dogs everyone.