Even in urban areas, pets and people are not immune. In November 2013, a dog walked into a trap off the Embudo Trail in the Sandia, just a quarter mile from the trailhead at Indian School. The trapper claimed the popular trail extension was exempt from the 25-yard buffer zone. Hikers have encountered traps in Placitas, in Eldorado, and across Santa Fe and Taos counties. In February 2013, a kitten lost part of a paw in an illegal trap set near Rio Grande and Indian School roads.
    For Mary Katherine Ray, two encounters with traps—including the traumatic experience of finding a coyote in one on a Sierra Club hike—transformed her politically. “The thought that someone could do that to someone else changed my life,” she said of how it ended the peaceful refuge she took in the outdoors.
    Many people report being badly shaken by traps, even if their dog escaped with life and limbs. Terry DuBois and the rest of the Mountain Canine Corps practice search-and-rescue with their dogs in Los Alamos County twice a week. Last January, her 12-year-old Heeler started shrieking on a well-established trail on Forest Service land. Luckily, one of her friends had seen the video on how to open a trap, and Jetta escaped with a limp. But the experience led DuBois and others on the corps—including another who had a dog trapped—to fight for a ban, which they successfully passed in Los Alamos County last April.
    At the state level, trapping is protected by the political might of ranching and hunting groups. Though many hunters oppose hunting on humane grounds, says Ray, “the hunting groups seem to feel like it might be a slippery slope to banning hunting in general”— though nothing of the kind has happened in Arizona or Colorado, which banned trapping in the mid-1990s.   

     Hunters, in fact, register a strong presence on Trap Free New Mexico’s list of victims with stories to tell, since they often range across public lands with their dogs. Several recount coming across wild animals caught in traps and shooting them to end their suffering, including one who found an endangered species of rabbit that had nearly torn off both paws. “I have to say it was the most satisfying thing I’ve done all week,” the hunter wrote about shooting the rabbit and hurling the trap down a mine shaft. “As a hunter myself, I find trappers and trapping unconscionable.”
    Last year, 1,831 people bought furbearer licenses in New Mexico, of which maybe a quarter used them to hunt the target animals, according to Ray. These include beaver, muskrat, fox, badger, raccoon, and bobcat, whose seasons run anywhere from November to May. That leaves about 1,300 to 1,500 “fur harvesters” who use the license to trap. Since coyote and skunk can be trapped anytime, traps are abundant year round.
    Trappers are supposed to report to Game & Fish the target animals they kill, but it’s nearly impossible to know if they do. Most set two or three dozen traps, but some set hundreds. By law, traps must remain 25 yards from hiking trails and public roads, be marked with the trapper’s identity, and be checked every 24 hours. In practice, traps are rarely checked more than every few days, as trappers prefer to wait until their catch has died of thirst, infection, gangrene, or predation.
    “I feel like a prisoner in my own home” writes one hiker who lives in Socorro County of a trapper who had taken over a nearby canyon. “It takes him 6 hours to check all his traps—there must be hundreds of them and he has been here for weeks already. It will probably be years before I see a bobcat again.”
    In searching the dozens of reports about pets being caught in traps, we could not find a single case where the agency penalized a trapper for violations. In fact, game wardens often failed to appear when called. We were also not able to find a single case where the agency returned a reporter’s call— including ours.
    “They feel they can do what they want to do, and don’t have to answer to the general public,” said Ray, adding that the situation had grown worse under Gov. Susana Martinez.

    This widespread perception that Game & Fish serves livestock and hunting interests alone feeds the frustration of outdoor enthusiasts who say a small minority is allowed to exploit a public resource to the detriment and danger of everyone else. Trappers pay $20 for a license, and are allowed to take and sell whatever they catch on public lands.
    “The Game Commission is so slanted against us,” said Terry DuBois, “and you’re not getting lay people on that board. If you look at the people on Game & Fish, they’ve all been appointed by our governor, and most of them represent ranching, hunting, and gun-type industries.”
    In fact, the Game Commission—an appointed body that oversees the Game & Fish department—has faced embarrassing accusations against its top officials in recent years. Game Commission chairman Scott Bidegain stepped down a year ago after reports of illegal cougar hunting on his ranch, after he won a prize in a coyote-killing contest. In 2013, agency director Jim Lane— known for his pro-hunting, anti-conservation stance—resigned abruptly with the unanimous approval of the Game Commission. In 2008, director Bruce Thompson resigned over allegations of an illegal deer hunt. Meantime, the state’s population of black bear and cougar appear to have fallen to dangerously low levels that are not being monitored.
    Once again this year, Rep. Bobby Gonzales of Taos will introduce a bill at the state Legislature banning trapping on public lands. His last attempt in 2013 died in committee in a vote mostly along party lines. “Why individuals voted against it, I can’t answer for them,” Gonzales said, adding that ranchers tend to support trapping because they see the target animals as a nuisance.
    Gonzales says he has constituents who have had dogs injured in traps, and opposes the practice because it is cruel. “It’s a very antiquated way of trying to catch animals,” he said. “And the suffering— you’d think today you’d have more understanding.” He said he saw such an outpouring of support after his 2013 bill, he is certain that a ban would pass if the issue were put to voters. That option is not available to New Mexicans, however, as it was in Arizona and Colorado.
    According to a 2005 poll by Research and Polling Inc., 63 percent of New Mexico voters support a ban on leghold, snare, and lethal traps on public lands. In 2011, more than 12,000 comments were submitted to Game & Fish advocating a ban, after the Game Commission voted unanimously to lift a temporary ban on trapping in the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery area. Some 14 endangered Mexican Gray Wolves (out of a population of 50 at the time) had been trapped, several of them requiring amputation.
    Incensed that the agency had ignored public sentiment, a coalition of conservation and animal advocacy groups held a People’s Forum Panel on the issue in September 2011, and reported that 90 percent of comments it received ran in favor of a ban.
    Of course, trappers are unlikely to comment on such an issue, being well aware of public sentiment. We reached out to Tom McDowell, president of the New Mexico Trappers Association (NMTA), but he was out of cell-phone range for at least a week on a trapping expedition, “helping a rancher,” according to his family.