Cat euthanized after being hurt in Youngstown neighborhood trap

By Denise Dick

denise_dick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A female tabby cat had to be euthanized this week after its front legs were crushed in a trap set in a city residential neighborhood.

Lisa Hill, executive director of Animal Charity, said a meter reader found the animal Tuesday and contacted the agency.

“I couldn’t imagine why someone would have a trap like that at their house,” she said.

Agents went to the house and found the cat in the trap that was attached to a chain-link fence at the Indianola Avenue home. Two of her legs were caught in the trap.

“She was afraid of us,” Hill said.

The agents threw a towel over the animal’s head to calm her and cut the trap from the fence, taking the whole device back to the office.

Animal Charity’s veterinarian examined the cat, finding both legs broken, one with bone exposed.

“There was no feeling,” Hill said. “Her legs were broken. Her paws were cold.”

Because of the extent of the cat’s injuries, she was euthanized.

It’s unknown if the cat was someone’s pet or a stray. Hill said the animal wasn’t thin and had longer hair. She estimated that the cat was about a year old.

Mark Basinger, Stark County wildlife officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, said the trap appears to be a foothold trap generally used to trap muskrats, raccoons, foxes or coyotes.

“We strongly discourage people setting traps in residential neighborhoods except for live traps,” he said.

If one is used in a residential area, the trapper, who is required to complete a trapper-education course, is required to notify anyone whose home is within 150 feet of the trap’s location.

“Each trap has to have a tag showing the user’s name or Division of Wildlife identification number,” Basinger said.

Hill said no tag was found on the trap in which the cat was found.

It’s a violation, a misdemeanor, not to include a tag, Basinger said.

Law requires trappers to check each trap daily.

“The trapper has to check each trap every day and remove those animals whether they’re domestic or wild,” he said.

The wildlife division occasionally sees domestic animals caught in traps, Basinger said.

“Most of those animals are not injured or harmed,” he said.