Fall foliage is seen on Sept. 14, 2017 along the Kenai River in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. (Photo by Lisa Hupp/U.S. FIsh and WIldlife Service)
Two Soldotna residents have pleaded guilty to disrupting a legal fur trapping line in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge after their dog was caught in a trap.
Laura McIndoe and Trafford Evanoff had challenged a pair of citations issued by a Fish and Wildlife Service officer in February 2025 but abandoned their challenge shortly before it would have gone to trial.
Conflicts between dog walkers and fur trappers are not unusual in Alaska, despite widespread efforts to prevent them, but federal court fights are rare, according to a search of U.S. District Court records.
McIndoe and Evanoff — her son — had been scheduled for trial in August, but both changed their “not guilty” pleas and agreed to pay small fines to settle the issue.
According to the initial citations, a trapper called a Fish and Wildlife Service officer after McIndoe’s dog became caught in one of the trapper’s foothold traps and McIndoe became “very upset and cursed at him, telling him to stay away.”
“He said the woman told him that her sons were in their 30s and big men, and if they see him, they will kill him,” according to an affidavit signed by officer Shay Hurd.
Two of the trapper’s other traps were destroyed, and the trap that snared the dog was lost.
According to Hurd’s affidavit, the trapline was correctly marked and permitted.
The Beacon attempted to contact McIndoe and Evanoff through their listed attorneys on Tuesday morning but did not receive a response by Thursday morning.
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Courtesy of Alaska Beacon
