By:James Brooks-January 19, 20265:21 am

https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/dispute-between-fur-trapper-and-dog-owner-ends-up-in-alaskas-federal-court/

 Fall foliage is seen on Sept. 14, 2017, along the Kenai River in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Lisa Hupp/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

Two dog-walking Soldotna residents are fighting a pair of unusual federal fines after getting in an argument with a fur trapper in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge last year.

Laura McIndoe and Trafford Evanoff appeared in federal court Tuesday this week to enter “not guilty” pleas and formally challenge $280 per-person tickets issued by a refuge officer for interfering with an authorized trap line. Further hearings are scheduled for later in the spring.

McIndoe did not return a phone call Friday afternoon. 

Conflicts between dog walkers and fur trappers are not unusual in Alaska despite efforts to avoid them, but federal citations are rare, according to a search of online court records. 

The citations facing McIndoe and Evanoff do not identify the trapper, who was not fined. The injured dog also was not named.

According to the citations, the trapper called a Fish and Wildlife Service officer after McIndoe’s dog became caught in one of the trapper’s foothold traps and McIndoe became “very upset and cursed at him, telling him to stay away.”

“He said the woman told him that her sons were in their 30s and big men, and if they see him, they will kill him,” said the affidavit, signed by officer Shay Hurd. 

Two of the trapper’s other traps were destroyed, and the trap that snared the dog was lost. 

According to Hurd’s affidavit, McIndoe said “the dog was doing better” two weeks after the incident, “after a large vet bill.”

The trapper had a permit to work within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, correctly marked their trap line with a warning sign, and placed the trap line in a valid area more than one mile away from the road, according to Hurd’s account.

McIndoe was cited for “interfering with persons engaged in authorized activities” in the refuge, as was Evanoff, who was identified as her son. 

Monday, 19 January 2026 02:03:44 PM

Two additional men have been charged over alleged animal cruelty offences in the state’s west last year.

On Monday 8 September 2025, officers from the Central North Police District and the Rural Crime Prevention Team (RCPT) established Strike Force Salwood and began investigating an alleged illegal hunting incident on a rural property along Lower Lila Road, Lower Lila, approximately 80km north of Bourke.

It will be alleged that between Sunday 7 September 2025, and Monday 8 September 2025, two sheep and 16 goats were shot across several properties in the area.

A 22-year-old man was charged after several electronic devices were seized at a home in Hamlyn Terrace on Tuesday 16 December 2025. He remains before the court.

Following further inquiries, on Thursday 15 January 2026, strike force detectives charged two men – both aged 36.

One man has been charged with commit an act of aggravated cruelty upon an animal, use unauthorised firearm and torture, beat etc and cause death of animal.

The other was charged with commit an act of aggravated cruelty upon an animal (two counts), use unauthorised firearm and torture, beat etc and cause death of animal.

They were issued with a court attendance notice to appear at Bourke Local Court on Thursday 9 April 2026.

Inquiries under Strike Force Salwood continue.