Dog caught in steel trap set at Tumalo Reservoir

(Update: Adding video, ODFW comments)

A Bend resident is warning visitors to beware of steel traps set in the Tumalo Reservoir after her dog became ensnared in one.

Shera Felde told NewsChannel 21 Tuesday she was horseback riding Monday morning at the reservoir, accompanied by one of her dogs in an area close to her home, when one of the dog’s forelegs was caught in a steel trap.

She said she eventually was able to free her 7-year-old German short haired/husky mix named Finn, but during the process, Finn panicked and bit her several times.

” It was a very heavy, steel trap, ” Felde said. ” Thankfully, it didn’t have teeth in it. I kept thinking in my head, ‘How is the vet going to find me if he keeps bleeding?’ And I was far enough away from parking that I didn’t know how to describe where I was. ”

The Tumalo Reservoir is heavily used by hikers, bikers, dog-walkers and horseback riders.

” To have a trap 6 feet off of a well-worn trail means any dog could run into that, ” Felde said. ” It’s bad enough it’s for coyotes and cougars, I think it is a cruel, cruel thing to do. It’s not a sport, but for dogs, you can’t see it. It is sitting in the brush, right by your trail. ”

Felde reported the trap to the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy came out to investigate and informed her that traps are supposed to have identification on them, to locate the owner who set them.

The trap found on Felde’s dog did not have any markings or identification.

There are also regulations on how far away from a trail a trap must be set, and they must be checked every three days.

DCSO Sgt. William Bailey said the information on the trap and its location have been forwarded to Oregon State Police, in an effort to identify the trap owner and to review if there are any legal issues.

ODFW furbearer regulations state all traps and snares, whether set for furbearing or unprotected mammals, must be legibly marked or branded with the owner’s license number that has been assigned by ODFW, unless the trap is set on a land you own.

No traps or snares may be set on land within 50 feet of any public trail, or within 300 feet of any trailhead, campgrounds or picnic areas.

Traps must be checked 48 hours after they are set.

” Regulated trapping is legal on public land, there are certain regulations that bag methods and trapping methods require, ” said Michelle Dennehy , spokeswoman for ODFW in Salem. ” There are regulations to keep traps off public areas like trails to reduce the risk of things like this happening. ”

She said that if you are not walking near a public trailhead, there is a greater risk for finding traps.

” The safest thing to do is keep your dog on a leash or somehow in your sight, and under your control, ” Dennehy said.