Case Details

Pets maimed in steel traps
Lower Township, NJ (US)

Date: Aug 11, 2003
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: George Bonney

Case ID: 1704
Classification: Unlawful Trapping/Hunting
Animal: cat
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Patrolman James McCorkel arrived at the Adelphia Road yard of George Bonney after getting a tip that neighborhood pets were missing and the elderly resident was to blame.

McCorkel still wasn't prepared for what he saw when he came across a steel animal trap chained to a pipe in Bonney's yard here in the Town Bank section. McCorkel said there was a furry paw still in it.

"I believe it to be a cat's paw. I've dealt with enough animals to know what they look like," McCorkel said.

Bonney, 71, would not cooperate with police and grabbed the paw and threw it into a wooded area by his house, McCorkel said. The paw has not been recovered but the act led to a "tampering with evidence" charge from police. The Town Bank resident also was charged with cruelty to animals. Both are indictable offenses.

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Game filed additional charges for trapping without a license and use of an illegal steel leg-hold trap. Such traps were outlawed years ago and were supposed to be turned in by 1985.

"He's been served, and Aug. 19 is the court date," McCorkel said Friday.

During a summer in which dog attacks have dominated the news coming out Cape May County's most populous muncipality, with five dogs dead in three separate incidents where owners did not control their pets, this appears to be yet another case of animals dying for no logical reason.

Lee Widjeskog, of the Division of Fish and Wildlife, said there are traps that can catch an animal without killing it. Even if Bonney was angry that neighbors were not keeping their cats off his property, there were other options besides a steel leg-hold trap.

"He could have caught them in a box trap and released them unharmed," Widjeskog said.

McCorkel's visit to Bonney's yard was Monday. It took until Friday to complete the investigation and file the charges. It is rare to find steel leg-hold traps still in use. This case is even more rare since the trap was not used in the fur trade. Widjeskog said Bonney could be fined as much as $5,000 for using the trap.

"A lot of people still have them but they are smart enough not to use them. It's going to cost him. You can be fined more for catching something in a leg-hold trap than for beating somebody," Widjeskog said.

One reason the traps were banned is because animals caught in them suffered, and in some well-documented cases even ate off their own legs to escape. It remains unclear if this occurred in this case. Widjeskog said a predator, such as a coyote, could have eaten a cat that was caught in such a trap and left the paw behind.

"We have coyotes down there and they love cats," he said.

McCorkel said that since 1985, only antique dealers are allowed to have the traps.traps

"My main concern is there are children in the area and they (the traps) could cause some damage," McCorkel said.

Police also confiscated a second device called a conibear trap, which is legal if used with a proper license. It remains unclear whether Bonney ever worked as a trapper, although officials say he has no license now. Bonney has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached for comment Friday.

Police Captain Ed Donohue said animal cruelty and tampering with evidence are indictable offenses that are likely to be reviewed by the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office.

"It could go to a grand jury or they could review it and send it back to us," Donohue said.

Local police, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Officer Doug Ely and the township's animal-control firm, Tri-County Animal Control Services, investigated the case. Police had heard cats and dogs were missing in the residential neighborhood but have not linked any definite cases to Bonney.

References

Press of Atlantic City

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