October 31, 2018
From FREEP.com
A Brighton resident’s two dogs were caught in traps Oct. 29 at the Island Lake State Recreation Area in Green Oak Township.
The dogs — a Labrador retriever and a Shar Pei mix — were at the park that day to be walked when they were caught in traps, their owner Jamie Tobbe said Oct. 30.
The dogs were not seriously hurt, but have been frightened since the incident, Tobbe said.
“It’s terrible to do that when it’s not so far in the woods,” she said. “It’s the only place that we can let our dogs run.”
The traps were put in the park legitimately by a trapper, said Andrew Haapala, unit manager of Island Lake State Recreation Area.
He confirmed an incident occurred Oct. 29, that a complaint was filed and that the Green Oak Township Fire Department responded to an incident involving a dog in a trap.
The incident occurred on land north of McCabe Road in Green Oak Township that is open to hunting and trapping, Haapala said.
In order to place a trap on state land, it must be marked with the name of the trapper and a Michigan Department of Natural Resources identification number, he said.
Coyote hunting is allowed year-round on state land.
A valid fur harvester base license allows residents to hunt for animals such as coyotes, raccoons, fox, opossum and skunks, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Hunting Digest.
The trapper, whom Haapala declined to name, spoke with personnel from the law enforcement division of the DNR about the traps, he said. But the man faces no charges.
“It’s just an unfortunate situation where the owner of the dogs had it off-leash,” he said.
Any animals caught by a trapper do not have to be reported to the park office, Haapala said.
The park has coyote in it and Haapala said he assumes that is what the traps were set for.