EAST TAUNTON, Mass. (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Environmental Police had to put down a coyote in a neighborhood in East Taunton Sunday after they found it with a leghold trap attached to its leg.

According to Environmental Police, the trapping of coyotes is legal during the open trapping season in Massachusetts but the use of leghold traps is strictly prohibited.

Officers received a report of a coyote caught in a leghold trap in the Turner Street area of East Taunton. Due to the animal’s significant injuries sustained from the leghold trap, the coyote was put down.

If you have information regarding this incident, you are asked to contact Massachusetts Environmental Police Dispatch at 1-800-632-8075 or online. You can remain anonymous.