For a team that has filled our homes and hearts with dogs, cats and animal lives, this particular statement was heart-wrenching to write.
We first heard word of their terrible loss through shared friends, and we’re so grateful that the family reached out to share their experience. It takes courage and serious strength to sit with grief and channel that into making the world a safer place for others, especially given that you will be asked to relive that experience over and over for conversations, interviews, press releases and news segments. Nicole and Sean are such people, and this is their story.
Moon was a beautiful two-year-old rescue Siberian Husky. He was killed in front of his family by a baited and set Conibear fur trap just metres off a plowed public road.
Moon’s neck was slowly crushed in the trap after he was lured in by the smell of meat, left by a commercial trapper, intended to capture and kill an animal. Moon’s owner, Sean, was badly injured trying to free him. Nicole shared that “the trap sliced his hand so deeply that he required 10 stitches across his palm. Moon choked to death in a crouching position, barely making a sound, his trachea crushed. Sean was only able to release his body after cutting the trap with the chainsaw he keeps in his truck.”
This took place near Radium in B.C.’s East Kootenay region. As Nicole says, “this government-sanctioned death trap was located on a public access road plowed for winter recreation.” This is a well-known recreation area, and just like FSRs all over the country, it’s frequented by dog walkers, families with kids and locals who head out to enjoy nature. It’s disturbing to consider all the pups on long leashes following their nose, or the horrific potential of curious kids exploring the tree line.
In B.C., trapping regulations allow lethal body-gripping traps and inhumane neck snares to be set on shared public land, signage indicating an active trapline is optional and at the discretion of the trapper, and there is no required buffer distance between roads and traps. Commercial trapping is also subsidized by the government, funded through taxpayers. These rules place wildlife, pets, and people at unacceptable risk. Our laws should keep the public, pets and wildlife safe; instead, they are allowing dangerous, outdated and inhumane commercial practices to take place in public spaces.
Since they lost Moon, Nicole and Sean have been flooded with stories from others who have endured similar experiences, yet it’s not common knowledge that there are trap lines lurking by roadsides across the province, including provincial parks. According to data released by The Fur-Bearers, an average of 35 pets are caught, injured, or killed by traps every year.
B.C’s archaic commercial trapping regulations do not reflect modern-day land use, and sadly, Moon’s death was not an accident. It was a foreseeable outcome of commercial trapping regulations that have not kept pace with how public lands are used today.
Conibear traps are indiscriminate, with no release mechanism, marketed as “instant kill” devices. Moon’s death was not instant. He died slowly, in distress, while his family tried desperately to free him, sustaining serious injuries in the process. No family, no person recreating on public land, and no animal should ever be put in this position.
Exposed Wildlife Conservancy is working directly with Moon’s family, alongside The Fur-Bearers, to push for urgent legislative reform in B.C. This includes a reasonable expectation of safety and clear restrictions on where lethal traps can be placed, improved public safety standards, and an honest reassessment of whether these practices belong on public lands at all.
Year after year, dogs and cats are injured or killed in traps because the province fails to adequately regulate the commercial trapping industry, which represents a very small fraction of the population at 0.02%. The Ministry is aware that pets are caught every trapping season, yet meaningful safeguards have not been implemented, despite repeated warnings from The Fur-Bearers since 2012.
Our public petition and letter-writing campaign are calling on the Province of British Columbia to modernize trapping regulations to reflect current land use, public safety, and animal welfare expectations.
Public lands should be safe places to walk, explore, and connect with nature, not places where families risk unimaginable loss.
We are asking for the creation of Moon’s Law, which would end commercial/recreational trapping in British Columbia.
In the interim, we are calling upon the Minister of Water, Lands, and Natural Resource Stewardship, Randene Neil, to call for immediate, common-sense updates to trapping regulation (through the Wildlife Act review process, or annual trapping regulatory reviews), including:
Please take a moment to stand with Moon’s family and add your voice. Sign the petition.
The B.C. government is currently requesting consultation on some proposed updates to hunting and trapping regulations. We recommend taking this timely opportunity to express your thoughts as a taxpayer. You can do so here: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/sports-culture/recreation/fishing-hunting/ahte/hunting-trapping
Sign the petition and learn more: exposedwc.org/moons-law
Learn more about trapping and why reform is needed: exposedwildlifeconservancy.org/knowledge-base/trapping
Learn how to release pets from traps: thefurbearers.com/blog/learn-to-release-your-pets-from-traps/
With condolences and hope,
The Team, Board Members & Beloved Pets of Exposed Wildlife Conservancy
Sam, Ollie, Tigs & Obi
Maggie & Maisie
Kim, Karma, Duke, George, Nova & Bandit
John, Rocky, Kermode & in memory of Abbey
Colleen, Betty & Wilbur
Lynne & Whisper
