That is a frequent question asked by people that want to know how we catch a coyote that is causing problems. The answer is foothold traps such as the two types pictured above. The trap on the left is a Jake trap with swivels and a shock absorber attached to the chain that hold the trap to a anchor in the ground. The trap on the right is a Minnesota Brand 650 with a short chain and swivels.
Traps have evolved dramatically over the past few decades with manufactures designing traps with the animals comfort in mind. These style traps feature offset jaws(leaves a gap and does not fully close) which prevents the blood to the animals foot from being cut off so the foot does not go numb. Rubber inserts attached to the jaws also aid in the animals comfort, shock springs to ease the stress on the animals foot and leg and inline swivels so the trap rotates with the animals movements and does not bind. All of this is done with the animals comfort in mind and it works. There are many times that we walk up to a captured animal and he is sound asleep.
I am sure that you have heard somewhere that traps are cruel and inhumane, this is simply information that is being spread by people that are uneducated to the facts of traps and trapping, or they have an agenda they are trying to push. This type of equipment that we use is exactly the same equipment animal researchers use to capture animals and fit them with radio tracking collars or relocate them to establish new populations of animals in different areas of the country. It is important that these animals are not injured or the research project would be unsuccessful. This is the same equipment that was used to capture the animals for the Cook County Coyote Project. If you look at the data you will see those animals lived a very long time after being captured. I know that this is the same equipment because my partner is the person that trained the researchers on how to use this equipment to capture the coyotes for that ongoing study.
