Until last Friday, Robert Belyk did not consider himself an animal rights activist.
That changed when a wounded skunk, caught in a leg-hold trap, wandered into the backyard of his Port Coquitlam home, writhing in pain.
"We were all really cut up by seeing what was happening to this poor animal," he said. "Nobody cares for skunks but nobody wants to see them suffer."
Belyk called the Conservation Officer Service and someone from Langley's Critter Care Wildlife Society took the skunk away and later euthanized the animal.
Given its condition and the fact that one of its legs was caught in the trap, Belyk, who lives in a residential neighbourhood, said the animal could not have travelled far. That means the trap was likely one of his neighbours - someone he probably knows on a first-name basis, he said - who set the trap.
After his experience with the skunk, he wants leg-hold traps banned. He worries that a similar trap could have caught someone's pet, or worse, a small child.
"I am going to make an effort to make sure there is a ban on leg-hold traps," he said. "I was not a big advocate of traps. I knew they were used but I had no idea anyone would set them around here."
But the trap that caught the skunk in Belyk's yard was likely already prohibited in residential areas. According to regulations from the provincial Ministry of Environment, it is illegal to trap within 200 m of a home unless a live box or egg trap is used.
Conservation officer Steve Jacobi said larger leg-hold traps are permitted but are too big to catch small animals such as skunks or dogs. They also require a licence and written permission from the property owner where the trap is set.
"The [permitted traps] are pretty big," he said. "If a skunk sets off something like that, they can just walk out of it."
Leg-hold traps are rare in residential areas, he said, adding that the last time a similar incident occurred was about six years ago. He said the trap that snared the skunk was likely not permitted in the location where the animal was found.
"It doesn't sound like it was a legal trap at all," he said. "This is probably a small, rusty one."
He added that conservation officials have been unable to determine who set the trap.
Angela Fontana, a senior animal care supervisor at Critter Care, said staff had difficulty removing the trap. She added that because of the animal's condition, rehabilitation was not an option and it had to be euthanized.
"The foot was basically almost severed," she said. "It was really infected."
