A woman from a hamlet northwest of Edmonton wants to see improvements to public safety after an encounter with a beaver trap killed her dog.
Laurie Coleman was walking down the road near her Sangudo, Alta. home on Saturday morning with her eight-year-old dog Griss, a Labrador-Newfoundland mix. He was off-leash, sniffing around a marshy area at the bottom of the ditch when she heard a yelp.
“I tried to get the beaver trap off but I’m not strong enough to get it off,” Coleman said. “So I came home for help, but when I got back, he was gone.”
Coleman believes a trapper with Lac Ste. Anne County laid the device.
The county told Global News in an email it isn’t commenting, other than to say it is investigating the “unfortunate matter.” It said it conveys its “sincere regret to the family involved.”
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Donald Szybunka owns the land alongside the ditch with the offending trap. He worries for his three children and the general safety of the public, saying he wants the county to better inform residents about traps.
“It’s just knowledge to the public of what’s going on,” Szybunka said. “A dog is one thing, but a human life would be another.”
Coleman said the county should put up signage or posters in the area warning of the danger.
The life-long dog owner lost two other dogs about 10 years ago in almost the same spot, and also to traps.
She said she doesn’t know when she’ll feel safe to return with her two remaining dogs.
“I don’t know if there’s another trap there. I don’t want to take that chance again.”
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