![\"Andres](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/7f80c78e-353f-4c2e-838e-7fbe893dfa94_1721668549.png\")
<\/a>FAIRFIELD, Calif. \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\nA young female coyote has been returned to the wild after rescuers said she was caught in an illegally set steel-jawed leg-hold trap near Fairfield.<\/p>\n
The Solano Wildlife Rescue and Education Center shared photographs of the coyote and the trap with KCRA to help residents recognize the devices and understand the danger they pose to wildlife.<\/p>\n
Amy Pedrioli, founder of the nonprofit rescue center, said the trap was found near Suisun Valley and Rockville roads, just outside Fairfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trap was purposely set. It was staked into the ground,\u201d Pedrioli said.<\/p>\n
A person in the area discovered the coyote and contacted authorities, according to the rescue center. The animal was freed and brought to the center for treatment.<\/p>\n
Pedrioli said the coyote sustained soft-tissue injuries but avoided the permanent damage that such traps can cause. After about two and a half weeks of rehabilitation, the animal recovered and was released back into the wild.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese traps are super, super horrible. They\u2019re barbaric,\u201d Pedrioli said. \u201cMany animals will actually gnaw off their legs, their arms, whatever is stuck in there. It does a lot of irreversible damage where they will have to be euthanized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pedrioli said animals can remain caught for extended periods if a trap is not quickly discovered.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them sit in these traps for a very long time, and it is a lot of unnecessary suffering, which we don\u2019t stand for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
California law generally prohibits using or authorizing the use of a steel-jawed leg-hold trap, padded or otherwise, to capture wildlife, dogs, or cats. A narrow exception applies to authorized government workers in extraordinary cases involving human health or safety.<\/p>\n
A violation is punishable by a fine of $300 to $2,000, up to one year in county jail, or both, according to the California Fish and Game Code.<\/p>\n
The rescue center rehabilitates injured, sick, and orphaned mammals found throughout Solano County. Pedrioli said its patients range from ground squirrels and opossums to coyotes.<\/p>\n
She said wildlife rehabilitation has become more challenging as development expands into areas where wild animals already live.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t want wildlife in their backyard, even though they moved into it,\u201d Pedrioli said of some residents.<\/p>\n
The organization hopes that publicizing the coyote\u2019s case will help people identify and report suspected traps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just hope that if people are out walking around and they happen to come across it, they can report it so that we can take them down and find out who\u2019s setting them,\u201d Pedrioli said.<\/p>\n
Anyone who finds a suspected trap should keep a safe distance and should not touch or attempt to remove it, the rescue center said. People should note the location and report it to their local sheriff\u2019s office or the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n
Authorities have not identified who allegedly set the trap.<\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/strong><\/a> | <\/strong>Download our app<\/strong><\/a> | <\/strong>Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/strong><\/a> | <\/strong>Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young coyote released after rescue from illegal steel-jawed trap in Solano County FAIRFIELD, Calif. \u2014 A young female…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":992480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[397913,309440,4749,13257,254468,29391,25495,397917,271184,397911,397914,44470,397915,159,15184,397912,157193,67,132,68,9272,837,397916],"class_list":["post-992479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-amy-pedrioli","tag-andres-valle","tag-animal","tag-authority","tag-california-fish","tag-coyote","tag-education-center","tag-extraordinary-case","tag-fairfield","tag-illegal-animal-traps","tag-illegal-steel-jawed-trap","tag-kcra","tag-nonprofit-rescue-center","tag-science","tag-solano-county","tag-solano-wildlife-rescue-and-education-center","tag-trap","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wild","tag-wildlife","tag-young-coyote"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}