Brian Dalpes and Rachel Luger took their 17-month old mixed-breed dog, Betsy, out for a typical evening walk in Missoula, Montana. Within a short time after taking their usual path, the couple heard a terrible sound.
“We go down to this area all the time several times a week,” Dalpes shared, “and we were just doing our walk and she was kind of behind me a little bit and around the bend in the trail and I just heard a commotion and heard what sounded like an animal fighting.”
As Dalpes approached the area in question, he was horrified to see his dog caught with an illegal trap around her neck. Although he was able to remove the trap from her neck, damage to the airway was severe. The couple immediately took Betsy to the vet and performed CPR the entire way there.
Although Luger always planned to get educated about traps in Montana, she never did and is now urging other pet owners to do so.
“I would just urge people to seek out education on traps, so do not wait its trapping season right now and people need to know what to do,” said Luger.
The two men who set the trap were cited with state charges including one count of “failure to appropriately mark the trap and one count of an illegal ground set.” They were also cited by Missoula Animal Control for illegally trapping within city limits.
We are glad the dog is okay and hope everyone who lives in an area with traps will be properly educated to avoid tragedy. Watch the complete story by pressing play on the video below.
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