By Julie Dockstader Heaps
SVI Media

A Star Valley woman hopes changes in statewide trapping regulations would mean the tragic death of her beloved dog — Jester — will not have been in vain.

“My requests are minimal but will save countless pet lives,” Becky Barber wrote in an email to Brian R. Nesvik, director of Wyoming Game and Fish Department, in the days after her brown and white English Bull Terrier was caught on February 8 in an allegedly illegal beaver trap set off Swift Creek Canyon road.

“I can tell you right now Jester’s death will not be in vain,” Barber wrote. “I, nor my support group, is going anywhere until there is change.”

Barber’s “support group,” called “Jester’s Legacy,” is a grassroots group gathering names and support for what a spokesperson calls “reasonable asks” for changes in trapper education and “setback” regulations.

“The idea behind our proposal is around coexistence between trappers and families/pet owners — increasing safety by reducing conflict close to trails and roads,” Kara Purser, a friend of Barber’s and unofficial spokeswoman for Jester’s Legacy, told SVI Media.

Explaining that Jester’s Legacy “wants to be realistic about our asks,” Purser emphasized during an interview with SVI Media, “we’re not trying to infringe on trappers’ ability to get out there, but we want to recognize that these kinds of conflicts are only going to increase. We have more people than ever [on the trails]. We feel that management needs to consider that.”

In his response to Barber’s February 11 correspondence, Director Nesvik expressed deep “sympathies for the loss of your pet and friend, Jester. I have been briefed on the incident and am sorry for your tragic loss.

“… I have also been advised of the actions of the trapper who set the trap involved in this incident. I am aware that had existing regulations been followed, this incident would not have happened. With that said, I know you and others are interested in other regulatory and statutory changes. I encourage you to continue offering your ideas and suggestions.”

The “incident” happened just a few feet off the road, over a snowbank, up Swift Creek Canyon, according to Barber’s email. She, Jester, and her other English Bull Terrier, Kaia, were finishing what was a routine walk — legally without leashes on public lands — when both dogs went over a snowbank. Kaia returned, Jester did not.

Calling to her dog, Barber went over the bank and found him snared in an allegedly illegal Conibear #330 trap. As the trap is meant to euthanize an animal immediately, Jester did not survive.

Although the investigation into Jester’s death is ongoing, James Hobbs, senior game warden for Afton with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the size of the trap was illegal and, thus, a citation was issued to the trapper.

Jester’s death was “super sad,” Hobbs told SVI Media. “We have regulations in place to prevent that. They weren’t followed in this instance.”

The trapper involved has expressed deep remorse for Jester’s death, Hobbs related. “They just feel awful.”

Other trappers, he emphasized, are “heartbroken this happened. No trapper wants to trap a domestic animal. That’s not their focus at all.”

While acknowledging the remorse of the trapper and the place trapping has in Wyoming, Barber, Purser and others with Jester’s Legacy want to see changes in state statutes — and they have a growing list of supporters, including members of the Wyoming State Trappers Association.

“We are going to be putting a proposal together and try to tackle it in a couple different ways, hoping to get some support from state legislators,” Purser related. “We are focusing on a couple reasonable asks that any responsible, ethical trapper could get behind.”

The two changes Jester’s Legacy is seeking is mandatory trapper education — similar to hunter education — and mandatory “setbacks” from heavily used roads and trails on public lands. Trapper education is already available, but it is not mandatory

These regulatory changes, Purser said, would need fleshed out in a legislative bill, but she emphasized that several neighboring states also with “conservative values” have mandatory trapper education and setback statutes.

Hobbs is supportive of trapper education enhancement and said a proposal from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to the Wyoming Trails, Recreation and Wildlife (TRW) committee supporting education and setbacks did not pass the committee in 2020.

Speaking of the challenges of increased regulations on trappers and dog walkers, Hobbs said “some type of trapper education is the best option.”

Such education and potential “setbacks,” added Purser, would just make it “so we can all breathe on public land.”

In correspondence with SVI Media, Barber expressed gratitude for “everyone who is supporting our push for change.”