Last week in Casper, a family was walking their three St. Bernard dogs in a public area within a mile from their home.  The dogs were legally off-lease, and under voice command, but the smell of baited traps drew all three of them into the bush where snares choked them to death.  The family and their kids tried desperately to loosen the cables that constitutes a snare trap, but lacking wire cutters, the dogs died within minutes.

Because more people are using public lands to recreate, more and more dogs are being caught in traps placed near trails and roads.  These and other incidents have produced a groundswell of outrage which is growing across the West.  Organizations like Wyoming Untrapped and Footloose Montana  have sprung up to answer this need. Bobcat trapping around the perimeter of Joshua Tree National Park prompted California to establish the Bobcat Protection Act of 2013 banning trapping around national and state parks and…