Action Alert: Help Pass Roxy’s Law

New Mexico’s public lands are home to incredible natural beauty and unique native wildlife, including rare species like the Mexican gray wolf. These public lands may also host hidden dangers in the form of leghold traps, body-crushing traps, and strangulation snares that pose threats to wildlife, people, and companion animals alike.

Between 2002 and 2020, 43 endangered Mexican gray wolves were caught in traps in New Mexico. 18 of these wolves were injured, including four amputations, and seven of these wolves lost their lives.

The toll of trapping on public lands does not end there though.

A new report released by the TrapFree New Mexico Coalition and WildEarth Guardians details the economics of trapping, the number of species killed by trappers, and the environmental impacts that the widescale killing of native wildlife has on the state’s ecosystems. Beyond that, the report shares the heartbreaking stories of family pets that have been maimed or killed by traps on public lands, pets like Roxy, a beloved dog who was strangled by an illegally set neck snare and died in her owner’s arms as he desperately struggled to free her.

There is a growing movement to end the cruel practice of trapping, especially on public lands that should be safe spaces for wildlife and people.

Roxy’s Law, set to be introduced in the 2021 New Mexico legislative session, would ban recreational and commercial trapping on public lands across New Mexico. If you live in New Mexico, please consider contacting your legislator to urge them to support Roxy’s Law. Let them know you oppose trapping on public lands.

Please help ensure that what happened to Roxy and countless other companion animals and wildlife never happens again.