Negligent trapper puts dog through ordeal

Dudley licks his injured paw.

Dudley owes his life to the neighbor boys who know every inch of the Republican River southwest of the Perry Elevators.

Dudley is Con and Marty Fielding's lovable, red-haired golden retriever whose leg was caught in a trap that was ignored by its owner for at least five days.

Dudley was rescued by Carson, Wyatt and Forrest Kain, of rural McCook, and is recovering well at home.

"Dudley wouldn't be here if not for the Kain boys," Marty said. Con added, "Those boys are adventurous. They know every square inch of the river bottom around here."

Dudley's ordeal started Monday, Nov. 3, when he and his tricolored border collie buddy, Max, explored along the river bottom that marks the north boundary of Con and Marty's 30 acres. Max came home, but Dudley didn't.

The next day, Con and Marty walked the river bottom, east and west. The couple worried, talked to neighbors and continued their search throughout the week.

On Friday, Con talked to the neighbor to the west, Fritz Kain, and Fritz told his boys. The boys knew where there might be some traps on the river, and, on an island on the now-dry Republican River, they found Dudley -- his right front paw clamped tight in the jaws of a steel trap.

"Wyatt found Dudley," Marty said, "and Carson carried him through the cornfield." When Carson couldn't carry the near-dead dog any longer, the boys laid him in a corn row, covered him with their coats, and ran to the house to get Forrest and the pickup.

But Dudley's trials weren't over yet, because it took the boys about an hour to find him when they returned in the dark.

Marty and Con took the emaciated, dehydrated dog to Red Willow Animal Clinic, where vets couldn't initially determine the extent of damage to Dudley's leg because it was so swollen. "His foot was the size of a softball," Marty said. "When the swelling went down, we found open sores on the front and back of his leg." But no broken bones.

"Lucky for Dudley," Con said, "the trapper had welded a rod onto the jaws of the trap, so the trap didn't tear up Dudley's leg."

Dudley couldn't put any weight on his leg for several weeks, and still today, walks with a very noticeable limp. The sores that circle his leg like a dotted line are healing.

Dudley and Max don't live in pens or in a fenced-in yard around the house, Marty said. The couple acknowledges there are risks associated with not penning their dogs.

What upsets the Fieldings about Dudley's ordeal is the trapper's apparent disregard for trapping laws and his/her obvious indifference to the suffering of an animal.

In Nebraska, trapping laws state that trappers must check (dry-land) traps set to catch furbearers "every calendar day." Marty said a trapper has told her, "A good trapper will check his traps every morning and every evening."

State law also requires that furbearer and coyote traps be clearly marked with the valid driver's license number or identification card number of the owner or user.

Nebraska game warden Virgil Gosch and Sheriff's Deputy Sgt. Burke Curl investigated. Gosch has the trap, which is not marked with any identification, other than that unconventional welded rod.

"The trapper seemed to know what he was doing," Con said. "He was using cellophane to keep his scent off the trap pad."

If the owner of the trap that snared Dudley had checked his/her traps at least once a day, Dudley wouldn't have suffered five days without food and water ... five days chained to a steel jaw that wouldn't let go.

Marty said, "We just don't want any other dog going through this."