Investigation underway after Mekinock family dog killed in snare trap

MEKINOCK, N.D. (Valley News Live) -North Dakota Game and Fish is investigating tonight after a family’s hunting dog was killed in a snare trap.

The dog went missing over the weekend and was found late yesterday afternoon near the family’s home in Mekinock.

A smiling yellow lab, a great hunter and a family member--that’s the way loved ones remember Lucy.

“We tried to take her home a couple of times ourselves,” friend Dan Lund says. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get away with it.”

Lucy’s owners tonight are too distraught to tell her story. Lund says he got a call Saturday saying Lucy left the house and never came back.

“She always comes when you call for her.”

Searching the 16 acres, they found Lucy a day later less than 200 yards from their home.

“He just kept walking the river, he went down a little bit farther in a way they don’t normally go and Lucy doesn’t normally go,” Lund says. “That’s when they found her in the trap. It was not good, it was not good at all.”

A trapper had recently set a snare on the Turtle River, which runs through the family’s property. Lucy was found caught in it and did not survive.

“We had to use a chainsaw because she was stuck on the ice,” he says. “She was frozen to the ice, we cut her out. It took us a good hour.”

Tonight, investigators are looking into where the snare came from. Family members are questioning if there was something that could have prevented this.

“I’m a hunter myself, they like to hunt. They’re not against it, but it’s got to be done right. Let people know what’s going on.”

A good dog--and to this family--a family member is gone.

The family is sharing this warning in hopes neighbors don’t have to go through the same thing.

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