Historically, unregulated trapping almost wiped out beaver, sea otter, lynx, wolverine, and other species in many areas of the U.S. Today, some state wildlife management agencies continue to allow the trapping of highly sensitive species, including wolverine, fisher, marten, kit fox, and lynx. For example, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) considered listing the Canada lynx under the Endangered Species Act, Montana continued to allow lynx to be commercially trapped — even when a 1999 U.S. Forest Service report concluded, “Lynx appear to be extremely susceptible to trapping, and where trapping is permitted it can be (and has been) a significant source of mortality.”15 Unfortunately, because population modeling and furbearer data collection are so poor in many states, we do not know the impact trapping has on sensitive species — often until it is too late.  In Nevada, Golden Eagles are common “non target” species trapped and either injured or killed in traps.

Trapping regulations vary widely from state to state and are, in general, poorly enforced.  Nevada has amongst the loosest trapping rules in North America and is one of only 3 states that allow long intervals between trap visitation. Many states, including Nevada, have few restrictions on the types of traps that can be used or the number of animals that can be trapped. Only a handful of states, excluding Nevada, require or offer trapper education courses so most trappers learn “in the field.”  Only Georgia regulates how a trapped animal must be killed, in all the other states strangulation or drowning are the most common ways to dispatch a trapped animal.

Very few states monitor the number of target animals trapped each year, and most do not require trappers to report nontarget captures at all; Nevada does require reporting but fewer than 20% of trappers do this. Some state wildlife agencies rely on voluntary or mandatory “fur dealer/buyer reports” to estimate annual trapping totals. Others obtain their data through random telephone or mail surveys, then use these partial reports to estimate the total numbers of animals trapped each year. Additionally, MILLIONS of animals are trapped by private “nuisance wildlife control operators” in this growing and largely unregulated industry.

Nevadans for Responsible Wildlife Management are proud to support the Nevada Dept. of Wildlife’s Operation Game Thief program. We have pledged $2,000.00, along with the $1,500.00 already pledged by NoBearHuntNV, for a total of $3,500.00 as a reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the recent illegal killing of a female black bear. We salute Operation Game Thief and wish them great success in their enforcement endeavors.

———————confirmation email—————————-

Thank you Dr. Molde and Mark Smith,

We thank the Nevadans for Responsible Wildlife Management for the pledge of $2000 for the conviction of killing the female bear out of season in July 2014. I am providing a copy of this to the Operation Game Thief Citizen’s Board who pays the rewards for the Operation Game Thief program. I will keep this pledge on file. As I told Elaine, it can be quite a long process if we are fortunate enough to identify a suspect and bring them through the court process.

The pledges, along with the reward paid by the OGT Citizen’s Board, will hopefully entice someone to come forward with information that will assist our investigator in identifying suspects in this case and proceeding with a successful prosecution. I will work with our Public Information Officer, Ed Lyngar, to get the word of these pledges out to the public.

The OGT Citizen’s Board, a 501 (c) (3) corporation, raises funds separate from NDOW’s OGT program to pay rewards on all wildlife convictions that result from citizen reports to NDOW. They raise the funds to pay rewards through fundraisers and donations. If your group would like more information on their program or wish to be involved with the program to stop the illegal taking of the wildlife resource, please let me know and I can pass along more information to you. Attached is a copy of a draft reward payment letter that will give you some additional information.

I will keep you informed of the progress of the case.

Thank you again,

Paul Dankowski
Game Warden Captain
Nevada Department of Wildlife