| PENINSULA NEWS | |  |
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| Last updated at 6:15 PM on 05/12/07 |
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Wizard the beagle, was barely alive when his owner, Eugene Furlong of Plate Cove West, discovered him strangling in a trapper’s fox snare.
Anne Barker photo
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Dog owner says rules needed 
Trappers should have to post signs
ANNE BARKER
The Packet
Eugene Furlong believes there should be a rule requiring trappers to put out signs indicating the area where they set their snares.
Such a warning, he says could have prevented his beagle, Wizard, from almost dying when it ran into a fox snare in the woods. Furlong, a Plate Cove West resident, is still shaken by the experience, knowing how close he came to losing his beloved pet of nine years.
“I took him in the woods rabbit hunting last Monday. He found a rabbit and went after it. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped barking. I waited for a while, thinking he had just gone around the hill, out of sight, and that’s why I couldn’t hear him. After waiting about 10 minutes I walked back through the woods and that’s when I heard a weird sort of noise.
“I walked over to where I thought the noise was and that’s when I saw him, caught in a fox snare left by a trapper. He was in such a pitiful state—I thought he was dead. I had to carry him out of the woods and bring him home.”
As Wizard fought for air, Furlong was sure he had lost his dog. Gradually though the animal revived.
“But if I hadn’t got him then, just a few minutes more and he would have been dead. It’s just not good enough, this kind of thing shouldn’t be happening. It’s not the first time either. Once before Wizard got caught in a snare and, again, he was in a really bad way.”
Furlong called the Department of Forestry but was told there are no regulations in place stating trappers have to put signs out to warn people in the woods. He says this just isn’t good enough. It wasn’t as though he was miles inside the woods and away from communities. This happened just off the main trail in Powder Cove, just outside Plate Cove West.
“I’m not talking about an ordinary snare, this is one used to trap fox or lynx, much stronger than a rabbit snare. This snare kills pretty fast. It has a little steel hook on it and can kill an animal much quicker, especially the more an animal struggles.
“There has to be some sort of protection in place to prevent incidents like this happening again. There are all kinds of regulations in place, stating where you can cut wood and signs stating you can’t hunt in this place or the next. It shouldn’t be too much trouble to put signs up warning people where snares like these are set,” says Furlong.
He says he is not against the snaring of fox or lynx. But if signs were in place, rabbit hunters like him would know which places to avoid. He says he enjoys hunting as much as any trapper.
“I am not blaming this on trappers. I blame this on the Department of Wildlife for not having signs regulated. I know where I can and can’t go hunting because the signs are in place. Anyone trapping should be made to put up signs letting people know where they set their snares and they should stay a good distance away from communities,” says Furlong.
“Wizard was lucky, but only because I was close enough to save him in time. But how many more cats and dogs are not so lucky. With these type of snares, they don’t stand a chance.”
abarker@thepacket.ca
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03/12/07
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