Longmont police are looking for the person responsible for setting illegal raccoon traps that have already injured two raccoons this week.
On Sunday, animal control officers found a raccoon hanging from a fence near Clark Centennial Park with a trap attached to its leg. Officials think it ran and climbed the fence after it was trapped, and added the raccoon took off before they could take it to get the trap removed.
Two days later, they found another raccoon in a similar trap just five blocks away.
“It’s a very cruel way of taking care of a problem that doesn’t have to be a cruel way,” said Bob Knightwalker, who works with the Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Longmont, where the one raccoon that was able to be rescued is now being helped.
That raccoon suffered a severe injury to one of its legs and staff at the center said he will need an x-ray to determine whether he’ll be able to recover.
“I’d say right now it’s a 50/50 chance,” said Leah Peshock, the animal care supervisor at the center.
Lawmakers made leg traps illegal in Colorado nearly 10 years ago. Police now say the person responsible for setting up those traps faces animal cruelty charges.
“It’s an inhumane trap,” said Sgt. Matt Cage, a detective with the Longmont Police Department.
They don't know where the traps were set, but think it wasn't far from where they found the raccoons.
They ask anyone with information to contact the police department at (303) 651-8555.
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