Trap Put On Elementary School Grounds After Dog Sighting

Posted: 5:37 pm EDT March 22, 2011Updated: 5:51 pm EDT March 22, 2011

INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. -- Union County Animal Services placed a dog trap on the grounds of Poplin Elementary School in Indian Trail last week after a dog resembling a pit bull was seen walking around the campus.

It marked the second time in about a month that students and administrators had seen the animal. School officials emphasized the dog was not seen acting aggressively.

“The unknown of an animal no one’s familiar with is, what is it going to do?” said Sgt. Lynn Yow with Union County Animal Services.

Channel 9 arranged for Yow to demonstrate the type of trap used to catch nuisance and stray dogs. It was a black metal cage about three feet high and four feet long. Dog food is used as a bait to attract the animals, and when they step into the trap, it triggers a mechanism to close it. The trap is meant to contain the dogs and not hurt them.

“(Strangers) don’t know how (the dog) reacts to human contact,” Yow said. “If it’s going to walk up to you, if it’s going to run off if you try to approach it (or) if it’s going to attack you if you try to walk up to it.”

The sightings come at a time of heightened concern about the potential dangers of dogs. Earlier this month, a school resource officer shot and killed a German shepherd at a school in Monroe after it threatened a student. In January, two pit bulls mauled 5-year-old Makayla Woodard to death in Waxhaw and severely injured her grandmother as she tried to save Makayla. The incident prompted town leaders in Waxhaw to consider amendments to its animal control ordinance.

Parents of students at Poplin said they didn’t want anything like that happening at their school.

“What else can they really do, except put the trap out and keep an eye, which I know that they will do,” Judy Silberquit said.

Jemal Davis said his fourth-grade daughter told him about the dog sighting last week. While he said he’s reassured by the actions of the school district and the county, his daughter was not.

“She was a little nervous about it because of all the reports of the bad dogs,” he said.

Animal Services said being aware is the best defense, especially since calls for nuisance dogs went up in the weeks following the Waxhaw incident. Yow said it’s better to be safe than sorry.

“Especially on school property,” he added.

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