A CONCERNED pet owner is warning other dog walkers after he says his puppy was caught in a snare on a popular woodland walk.
The owner, who wants to remain anonymous, said he was walking his eight-month-old Labrador on King’s Walk, alongside Hudehope Beck, off Town Head, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, at the time.
He said: “We’d just started walking into the woods, just after the fork in the road.
“The puppy hadn’t gone far off the path, about ten to 15 feet when I heard him yelp a couple of times. By the time I got to him, the snare had caught tight on his back leg.
“I grew up on a farm and I know a fair bit about traps and snares and this was a set snare to lure animals in. It had two stakes and a u-nail into logs. The asphyxiation wire was galvanised and as it
doesn’t rust there was no way to tell how long it had been there.”
The owner said the snare was about ten feet off the footpath in the undergrowth. His puppy had trapped his back leg.
The pet owner added: “I managed to free him and I destroyed the snare as I know it’s illegal to have those types on land where the public can access. My partner and I did contact Raby Estates to let them know but we’ve not heard anything back from them.
“We haven’t been back there walking just in case, but we don’t want our experience to happen to anyone else.”
The walk, which is a popular route for locals and visitors, is owned by Raby Estates.
A spokesperson from Raby Estates said: “This is a popular area for dog walkers and visitors and we do not place snares in this area at all. If a dog has been caught in a snare in this part of upper Teesdale, it is certainly not one set by any Raby Estate employees.”
