Black bear seen walking miles with one foot caught in a trap, NH officials say

A bear is wandering southern New Hampshire with one of its feet caught in a trap, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game officials.

It’s been stuck like this for weeks, but has somehow remained “highly mobile and travels over a wide range,” the department said in a Tuesday Facebook post.

“A bear was spotted a couple of weeks ago ... most recently in Fitzwilliam, with what is believed to be a foot-hold trap on its paw,” the department wrote.

“The N.H. Fish and Game Department has been attempting to capture this bear. ... Once the bear is captured, Fish and Game will remove the trap, assess the bear’s overall health, and release it back into the wild.”

Wildlife officials are asking for help finding the bear, which is tough to miss due to the trap. However, the public is being warned not to “approach, entice, or feed” it in any attempt to offer comfort.

Male black bears grow to 250 pounds in New Hampshire and are capable of killing people, but it’s rare, NH officials say.

“The last time someone was killed by a black bear in New Hampshire was 1784,” the department says. “Black bears, like all wild animals, should be treated as unpredictable animals. Campground or ‘panhandler’ bears may nip or cuff people that tease with food or crowd around them.”

Wildlife officials have not identified the type of foothold trap, and if the bear may have suffered injuries while stuck.

A report by the Missouri Department of Conservation says some types of foothold traps are considered advantageous “because they restrain the animal but do not kill it.”

Reports of bears losing limbs while stuck in traps have been widespread in states such as North Carolina, where animal advocates blame such injuries on illegal trapping. McClatchy News reported in August 2019 that seven bears in western North Carolina had suffered leg injuries, including several that were missing a leg.

A reward for information in those injuries is being offered by the North Carolina-based group Help Asheville Bears and a Change.org petition supported by the group seeks to halt the sale of steel-jaw foot hold traps by Amazon.

This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Black bear seen walking miles with one foot caught in a trap, NH officials say."