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HIDDEN DANGER, SUSAN MEHALICK
Copied from Metroland, Albany, NY

Trapping results in tragedy as runner�s dog is caught and killed

A Saturday morning jog turned tragic has one new Capital Region resident sounding a warning about an unforeseen danger for those who use the Mohawk Hudson Bikeway: animal traps. On Jan. 4, Valentine, the beloved dog of Meg and Anthony Massaro, met a cruel and untimely death when she was snared in 
a trap after darting into the brush alongside a stretch of the bike path in the town of Colonie.

"I�ve been to the bike path lot s of times before, and I never had any reason to believe there was a danger for animals just beyond it," says Meg Massaro. Massaro and her husband, who are in the midst of relocating to Niskayuna from Dallas, came to the area in September and have jogged regularly a
t the bike path ever since, but it�s questionable whether they will again.

On the day in question, they had parked their car at the former Niskayuna train station and began running east on the path toward the Colonie Town Park.  With them were their two dogs, Valentine, a 5-yrear-old boxer mix, and Phaedra, a 3-year-old Labrador mix.

"I had just let her[Valentine] off the leash past the one-mile mark, and she was running beside me, but then she ran off into the woods, probably chasing a squirrel," Massaro said. "Then two seconds later, I heard her screaming and howling like a banshee."

Massaro ran after the dog to see what was wrong and was horrified by what she found. "At first I didn�t even know what I was looking at," she said. "Valentine was jumping all around, and I couldn�t see her head. I thought that she was being attacked by another animal."

In fact, Valentine�s head was caught in the steel jaws of an animal trap that had been housed in a wooden box. Massaro tried in vain to free Valentine from the trap�s grip. When she couldn�t she carried the 45-pound animal and the trap back to the bike path, where neither a passerby nor a police o
fficer could release the deadly device. An animal control officer was later able to open the trap, but it was too late. Valentine was already dead.

As shocking as it may seem to some, trapping is legal on the land where Valentine was caught. The town of Colonie, which prohibits hunting and trapping on its lands, owns only a 50-foot-wide right-of-way, extending 25 feet to each side from the center of the bike path. Beyond that, the wilderness 
land is owned by the state, and trapping is legal. Trapping season varies from region to region across the state but runs roughly from October through February.

According to Lt. Steve Heider of the Colonie Police, an investigation so far has revealed that the trap that killed Valentine was set on state land, some 75 feet off the bike path, between the path and the Mohawk River. The trap was baited with rabbit meat, and Heider speculates that is was most l
ikely intended to kill small game such as raccoons, muskrats or beavers, because it was set in a marsh area in the river�s flood plain. Because the trap did not have a tag identifying its owner�s name and address, it was in breach of state law. If found, its owner could face up to a $250 fine and 
15 days in jail.

Heider said that while it would technically be legal for a trap to be set as 
close as 26 feet from the center of the bike path, such an occurrence would be 
unlikely: "Most trappers won�t trap on high, dry ground," Heider said. 
"Typically they�ll set their traps near creek beds or waterways." Even so, 
Jennifer Post, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of 
Environmental Conservation, says the person who set the trap exercised poor 
judgment. "In all of our training classes and brochures," Post said, "we 
advise that it is very unwise to set any traps in the vicinity of public 
recreation areas, such as a bike path."

Since Valentine was killed, Heider said, a team of Colonie police officers 
have combed the area surrounding the bike path to search for other traps but 
have not found any. He cautioned, however, that there might still be traps set 
on state land that is out of his department�s jurisdiction.

"This was an area we hadn�t thought that much about," Heider said . "But 
people have to remember that they can�t assume anything when they�re in 
wilderness area. They have to be careful with their kids and pets in wooded 
areas. There are dangers out there."

That�s a hollow warning to Meg Massaro now. "There�s no way I would have let 
her off the leash if I had known there were animal traps in the woods," 
Massaro says. "Right now, this is not about me or my dog. It�s about the 
potential danger that still exists to other animals and even children. There 
should be signs to warn the   public or no trapping allowed at all around 
there. I don�t want anyone else to have to go through this."

Asked whether the town of Colonie would consider posting signs along the path to warn of the danger of animal traps in the woods or asking the state prohibit trapping along the bike path, Colonie Town Supervisor Mary Brizzell said the town is examining all its options. "This is the first time anyt
hing like this has happened as far as anyone can remember," Brizzell said. "It may be an isolated case, but we certainly are going to look into the possibilities of what we can do to keep something like this from happening again."