Newfoundland and Labrador Regulation 42/26, the Fur Bearing Animals and Coyote Trapping and Shooting Order, Newfoundland and Labrador (Amendment), introduces updated requirements for trapping equipment, live-holding devices, beaver harvest limits and certified traps. The amendment is issued under the Wild Life Regulations and the Wild Life Act. Its provisions primarily strengthen equipment requirements and clarify the circumstances under which particular traps may be used for fur-bearing animals and coyotes.

A key change concerns killing neck snares set on land. Section 4 is repealed and replaced with a requirement that these snares be equipped with a noose-locking device. The device must be set so that, once the noose has closed, it cannot expand. On the Island of Newfoundland, land-set killing neck snares must also include a breakaway device designed to cause the snare loop to disassemble when a static force of 340 kilograms or less is applied. The amendment therefore establishes both a locking requirement and, on the Island, a specified breakaway threshold.

Section 7 is also replaced. Anyone who sets a live-holding device on land to take fur-bearing animals or coyotes must check the device daily. In addition, on the Island of Newfoundland, a live restraining snare set on land must include a breakaway device capable of causing the snare loop to disassemble when a static force of 340 kilograms or less is applied. These requirements add explicit equipment and inspection obligations to the use of live-holding devices.

The amendment also changes beaver harvest limits. Under the revised subsection 8(1), on the Island of Newfoundland, a holder of a beaver trapline licence may harvest a number of beavers equal to the number of active beaver lodges located within the trapline area identified on the licence. This replaces the previous provision and links the allowable harvest directly to the number of active lodges. A related technical amendment changes the wording from “island” to “Island.”

A substantial portion of Regulation 42/26 replaces Schedule C, which lists killing and restraining traps certified for use for particular species and under specified conditions. The killing-trap list covers beaver, marten, muskrat, weasel, lynx and otter, with numerous certified models identified for each species. For muskrat, the schedule distinguishes between land and underwater trapping, with underwater sets permitting any jaw-type trap, including body-gripping or leghold traps, that is configured as a submersion set and exerts clamping force while maintaining the animal underwater.

The revised Schedule C also identifies approved restraining traps. These include cage traps for beaver and specified footsnare or foothold equipment for wolf and lynx. The listed equipment is subject to detailed conditions involving jaw configuration, coil springs, base-plate thickness, offsets and anchoring swivels. These specifications provide greater precision regarding equipment that may lawfully be used for different species.

Newfoundland & Labrador (42/2026) August 5, 2025
Disclaimer: Insights are for informational purposes only and does not reflect RRI’s official position or constitute legal opinion.