On June 9 Greenwich Police responded to a report of an injured cat in Chickahominy.
According to Lt Nemecek, a man bought a “body trap” online without and set it up without a license to catch a groundhog.
Nemecek said this type of trap is intended to for bobcats, coyotes, beaver lynx, or otters.
Unfortunately the man caught a neighbor’s cat.
The cat later died of its injuries.
“You can’t just trap without a license. And this person didn’t have proper name on the trap either,” Nemecek said. “These traps are indiscriminate. You can catch anything even though you’re targeting a nuisance animal. Leave it to the experts. Go through proper channels. Call Animal Control.”
Greenwich Animal Control and Environmental Conservation Police got involved in this incident, and it was determined that the arrestee, Thomas Bowlinger, 58, of Alexander Street had violated wild hunting regulations.
Bowlinger was charged with:
26-27* Trapping without a license
26-66-5(b) Illegal Trap Set
26-72(b) Failure to Have Name on Trap
26-66-7(c) Illegal trapping Not in Season
Mr. Bowlinger was released on a Promise to Appear on June 25 in Stamford Superior Court.