Dispute between fur trapper and dog owner ends up in Alaska’s federal court
- Alaska Beacon
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
By James Brooks
Alaska Beacon
Two dog-walking Soldotna residents are fighting a pair of unusual federal fines after getting in an argument with a fur trapper in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge last year.
Laura McIndoe and Trafford Evanoff appeared in federal court Tuesday this week to enter “not guilty” pleas and formally challenge $280 per-person tickets issued by a refuge officer for interfering with an authorized trap line. Further hearings are scheduled for later in the spring.
McIndoe did not return a phone call Friday afternoon.
Conflicts between dog walkers and fur trappers are not unusual in Alaska despite efforts to avoid them, but federal citations are rare, according to a search of online court records.
The citations facing McIndoe and Evanoff do not identify the trapper, who was not fined. The injured dog also was not named.
According to the citations, the trapper called a Fish and Wildlife Service officer after McIndoe’s dog became caught in one of the trapper’s foothold traps and McIndoe became “very upset and cursed at him, telling him to stay away.”
“He said the woman told him that her sons were in their 30s and big men, and if they see him, they will kill him,” said the affidavit, signed by officer Shay Hurd.
Two of the trapper’s other traps were destroyed, and the trap that snared the dog was lost.
According to Hurd’s affidavit, McIndoe said “the dog was doing better” two weeks after the incident, “after a large vet bill.”
The trapper had a permit to work within the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, correctly marked their trap line with a warning sign, and placed the trap line in a valid area more than one mile away from the road, according to Hurd’s account.
McIndoe was cited for “interfering with persons engaged in authorized activities” in the refuge, as was Evanoff, who was identified as her son.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
