Traps set for coyotes in Mission Hills park snare and injure Prairie Village woman’s dogs

Just before sunset Monday evening, Elisabeth Kirsch and her dogs were enjoying a peaceful walk around Mission Hills’ Peetwood Park.

Oreo, her 13-year-old Boston Terrier, playfully trotted around the grassy area next to 11-year-old rescue Fred. A moment later, Oreo began to yelp in pain.

“I totally freaked out,” Kirsch said. “I thought she’d been bitten by a snake.”

As she rushed over to help Oreo, she dropped Fred’s leash. The other pup scampered off before he, too, was howling.

Rather than having been attacked by a predator, as Kirsch initially thought, her dogs had been nabbed in contraptions placed by human hands. Two steel coyote traps had clamped onto the dogs’ legs.

Kirsch frantically flagged down a couple walking nearby for help, and her pets cried and writhed for roughly 20 minutes before city and animal control personnel came to release the dogs. Oreo had passed out from the pain by the time help arrived.

“My animals were just covered in blood,” Kirsch said.

Kirsch was also wounded in the incident — Fred bit her arm while she was trying to free him from the trap.

The dogs were rushed to the vet to receive X-rays, IVs and pain medicine. Both were referred to a veterinary dentist to heal their mouths, likely wounded from attempting to free themselves from the traps. Kirsch said 14 teeth were extracted from each pup.

With Fred missing his usual spunk and Oreo awaiting further surgery, Kirsch said she’s angry and confused. She wonders why Mission Hills allowed the traps to be set in the first place, especially where children could’ve gotten into them.

“You don’t do this to animals anywhere, for any reason, much less a public park used by little kids,” she said.

City officials said the four traps had been removed after the dogs were injured. The traps were placed in the park after residents voiced concerns about coyotes in the area, according to a statement provided by Mission Hills City Administrator Jennifer Lee.

Lee said two coyotes had been removed from private property in the last year and were euthanized.

In accordance with city ordinance, five signs were posted around the trapping location in Peetwood Park on Jan. 26, one week before setting the traps. Residents in the area were also mailed notices. The traps were in an unmaintained area of the park which is generally accessible from one direction, Lee said.

Kirsch, however, was not notified. She said she lives in Prairie Village, within walking distance of the park. She noticed a green sign that said “nuisance animal trapping in progress” that day, but she said its meaning was not clear. Mission Hills’ city hall’s phone number is tacked onto the end of the signs.

“Animals are so resilient,” she said. “They’re such troopers.”

Kirsch hopes the city will take responsibility and refrain from using the traps ever again. She said the coyote traps are completely unnecessary, and dangerous to people and pets alike.

“And are we now at a place in our culture where cruelty is meaningless anymore? Are we now at that place?”

Lee said the Mission Hills mayor and city council will discuss the next steps at their next meeting on Monday.

Heidi Markle, a spokeswoman for Kansas City’s Parks and Recreation Department, said she was not aware of any coyote trapping in Kansas City.