However, there can be a less attractive side to the countryside. Whether it is a stroll through woodland, a hike across the hills or a jog along a country track, it is possible that you may come across a more unpleasant scene than the one you were expecting. Here, I want to update and refresh a previous blog which I wrote, which is a guide to traps in the countryside and what to do if you come across them.

Traps set in the countryside, of which there are thousands set throughout the UK, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and are designed to catch a variety of mammals and birds. Many of the traps found will be legal, some will be of a legal type, but have been set up in an illegal manner and some are just downright illegal.

The main purpose of trapping animals in our countryside, by those that set them, is to kill animals that they see as a threat to their business, which more often than not is to rear birds to be shot for entertainment.

If you do come across a trap that you find suspicious or possibly illegal then you should contact the police and if you discover an animal that looks injured, sick or is a protected species in a trap then it would be a good idea to also contact the RSPB, SSPCA or RSPCA. It is illegal to tamper with a legal trap, but if you have any doubts or concerns about a trap then make enquiries with one of the above organisations or authorities for clarification.

OneKind would also be keen to hear about anything that you find and if you have a camera or camera phone with you then it may be a good idea to take some photos of what you have found. It is also worth trying to get the exact location of where you are if you do come across something, which will help those who you report your findings to.

Here are a few examples of traps that have been found within the Scottish countryside. Though the legislation for setting traps in Scotland is mainly the same as the rest of the UK, there may be one or two variations.

Larsen trap (Scotland) - Illegally set

This would be a legal trap if it wasn’t for the fact that the ‘decoy’ or ‘calling’ bird used to attract other birds into the cage was a Jay bird as only carrion crows, rooks or magpies can legally be used as decoys in Scotland. Note the sign attached to the side of the cage which informs the public that the cage is legal even though the cage was being used unlawfully.

All corvid traps must have a unique ID number/code attached to them which identifies the estate and owner of the cage. This is required by law and the cage operator has to apply for these codes from the police when they register there trap. If they do not and the cage has no ID tag or sign with a unique code number on it then it will be an illegally set cage and therefore should be reported.

Sadly, the condition of this Jay was very poor and it was later humanely put to sleep by a vet.

Larsen trap (Scotland) - Legal

A legal Larsen trap requires that the live decoy bird must have access to water, a suitable perch, food and be provided with shelter. Again, the trap is only legal if it has an identification tag or sign on it which is issued by the local police authority. The tag will often be white and tied to the cage.

Crow - Ladder and Funnel - trap (Scotland) - Illegally set

This trap has no identification tag which it is legally required to have like the Larsen traps above. Just like Larson traps, the crow trap tag is issued by the police and has a unique number/code on it which identifies the estate. If it does not have this ID number then the cage operator may be breaking the law. This cage was found to contain twelve crows. The crow trap must by law have suitable perching, access to water; food and shelter for the decoy bird and the gamekeeper should be checking the cage within a twenty four hour period and removing any birds that have been caught. In this case it appears that no check has been made for a while. So many territorial crows in an enclosed space can cause welfare issues as well as there not being enough shelter and perching space for such a large number of birds.

Crow - Funnel - trap (Scotland) Legal

The crow cage trap is legal as it has a suitable perch, shelter, water, food and an identification tag attached. If it did not have any one of these then it would not meet the legal requirements and would be illegal.

Crow - Funnel - trap (Scotland) Illegally set

This crow cage trap had no ID tag and therefore should not be set to trap birds. Unfortunately, the trap was set with bait in the cage and had caught a protected buzzard. After this photo was taken, the condition of the bird was checked then evidence was taken and reported to the relevant authorities. The buzzard was then released back into the wild.

Crow - Ladder - trap (Scotland) Illegally set

This cage had caught a Goshawk. Bird seed was found scattered on the floor of the cage and the remains of a small bird, probably used as live bait and killed by the goshawk, was also discovered which would indicate that the cage had been specifically managed to catch birds of prey. The Goshawk in the picture was in good physical condition and so after evidence was taken and reported to the relevant authorities, it was released back into the wild.

Crow - Ladder - trap (Scotland) - Illegally set

This trap had been set to catch birds of prey such as goshawks. Two live pigeons had been put into the cage as bait. The raptor will enter the cage and attack the pigeons, but will not be able to escape and later the game keeper will return and kill the legally protected bird of prey. The two pigeons in this picture, being used as live bait, were unharmed and after evidence was taken and reported to the relevant authorities, they were released back into the wild.

Clam/snapper trap (illegally set)

This trap is made of a thick wire and is held open by a false perch. Often, bait is set on the floor of the trap and above it is a stick cut in two pieces which acts as the perch. The trap has springs and when the bird lands on the perch the perch collapses, which triggers the cage to slam shut and catches the bird. This cage can be indiscriminate in the birds that it traps, including protected birds such as raptors. Scottish Natural Heritage has recently permitted these traps to be officially used in Scotland, even though there are clear welfare concerns over it's use. In the past, as the illustration above shows, carrion was allowed to be used as bait, but now, in Scotland, only eggs or bread can be used. If anything other than eggs or bread is found being used to attract birds into the trap then the trap will be illegal and it is advised to report it to the RSPB and the police.

If you come across these traps then it is advisable to contact the RSPCA, SSPCA, RSPB or your local Police Wildlife Officer.

Fen trap (Scotland) - Illegally set

Though this spring trap is legal, the way it is being used here is not. It is legal to set the trap onto a log crossing a stream, but the fen trap should have some kind of covering over it to restrict the species of animal that can be caught by it. The wire over this trap is wide open and could catch the face of an inquisitive fox, bird or any other animal that can fit through the end of the wire tunnel. The springs on this trap are very powerful and can crush bone. The wire tunnel should be much more restricted at both ends to catch its target species such as the stoat and weasel.

Fen trap (Scotland) - legal

The game keeper here has restricted the size at each end of the tunnel and so only the intended target animals such as the stoat and weasel should be able to pass through to the spring trap.

Mammal cage trap (Scotland) - Legal

Though the cage is legal to use to catch animals such as foxes or mink, in this case it had caught a protected Pine Marten. If the gamekeeper is checking his cages regularly then he should discover the animal in good health and is required by law to release it unharmed. After first checking his condition, the Pine Marten in this picture was released back into the wild and was reported to the relevant authorities.

Wire snares

Wire snares are another form of trapping device with hundreds of thousands set throughout the UK. The snare in this picture is unlawfully set. Scottish law requires all snares, set or in position to be set, to be tagged with an official ID number and the name of the species of animal that the snare is intended for, such as fox or rabbit. The laws related to snares in the rest of the UK are different and so if you come across such a device whilst out in the countryside and have concerns about it's legality or find an animal, dead or alive, trapped in one then it would be advisable to contact the SSPCA, RSPCA or local Wildlife Police Officer for help and advice. Also it would be very helpful if you could let us know about your snare finds at the OneKind SnareWatch website.

As with the legal cage and spring traps, it is also an offence to tamper with a legal snare. For further information on what is and is not a legal snare then you may find this resource useful. Alternatively contact OneKind on 0131 225 6039 and we will try to help.

A man is seen and filmed entering a cage of twelve crows and rooks and beating seven of the birds to death with a stick, over a period of several minutes. He uses the stick repeatedly to hit the terrified birds across their bodies as they attempt to escape his attack on them, flying over him and clinging to the top corners of the wire cage.

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Several birds are hit hard with the stick and for a moment they flounder from the blows, but manage to continue flying, but one by one, seven birds eventually fall to the ground injured, where the man continues to beat them until they finally stop moving.  Five birds are left, alive and possibly injured, and the man drives away.

I accidentally witnessed this incident while I was walking on a Scottish shooting estate in May 2011.

The birds were captured in a legal crow cage trap which uses a live decoy bird to attract other birds into it. There are many hundreds of these cage traps (see image below) set on shooting estates across the UK.

In this cage trap were twelve crows and rooks and although there was water and food, the shelter was little more than an upturned plastic bucket with a hole cut into it, enough for a single bird to adequately shelter from the weather. There were two short sticks stuck through two corners of the cage, enough for only two birds to perch on at any one time.

The stick used to kill them was a thin cane-like stick, taken from inside the cage and there is a question whether or not such a stick would have been adequate enough to humanely kill a large wild bird that was distressed and flying about in a cage.

There was no doubt in my mind that these birds, whilst captured and during the attack on them, were the victims of unnecessary mental and physical suffering.  I believed that this was a breach of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 as well as the general licence that governs the use of cage traps.  I therefore gave my video film of this incident to the police, who referred the case to the procurator fiscal. 

But now, several months later, we have been notified that the Crown has decided not to take any proceedings against the individual concerned.

This decision was made because the prosecutors believed that I was carrying out surveillance on the estate when in fact my visit, which I had made very clear to the procurator Fiscal, was of an education one and was to gather film and photographic material of the various ways legal snares are set to capture wild animals.

In response to OneKind enquiries about the decision, we were told that my actions in going on the land “fell foul” of a court case from 2004 (Ward v McLeod), where the evidence of an RSPB officer against a gamekeeper was not admitted by the court.

We were surprised by this reference. Later cases have taken a different view, with similar evidence being admitted. And even in the Ward v McLeod case, the sheriff commented that, even if a person was acting illegally for whatever purpose, but fortuitously came across the commission of another offence, unconnected with that particular purpose of his, then that evidence should be admissible.

We have to disagree with the decision on two counts. Firstly, as I made clear, I was not looking for evidence of snaring offences or any other offences for that matter and secondly – even if I had been – it was purely fortuitous that I came across that awful scene in the crow cage trap. 

My work at OneKind covers many animal issues including occasional visits into the countryside obtaining general film and photographic material of legal snares and traps for campaigns and educational purposes. There are times, far too many times in my experience, that I come across an incident related to wildlife crime and I feel that it is my duty as a concerned member of public, as well as a professional research officer, to record such findings.

Indeed, I was actually on a Scottish shooting estate two years ago, gathering photographic material of legally set snares and collecting stock footage of wildlife, when I witnessed a gamekeeper sprinkling a highly toxic and illegal poison onto a dead rabbit which he had staked into the ground. This estate had a record of poisoning birds of prey and so I informed the authorities immediately. The keeper was convicted at court and no question was made of why I was on the estate.  

What are the prosecutors telling us here, by taking no action against a man who has been caught on film beating seven captive wild birds to death with a stick, leaving five possibly injured birds in a cage and driving off, as well as allowing so many birds to be kept in inadequate conditions? Am I really expected to ignore similar incidents in the future and just walk on by? Are you?

Wildlife crime is an increasing and serious issue and this decision can only send out the wrong message about cruelty to our wild birds and other animals.

Unfortunately we have now exhausted all avenues to have this case dealt with by the authorities, after writing to the Lord Advocate for clarification in this matter and asking for the case to continue through to the courts, we finally received a reply stating that no proceedings will take place and that that was the end of the matter.

Please tell us your opinions here, and add your voice to the call for change.

Here are a few examples of snaring incidents. As you read them it is worth keeping in mind that snares are legal and there are thousands of them set in the British countryside. Read all about snares at www.snarewatch.org

Snaring case studies

Case 1 - snared badger

A badger was caught in a legal fox snare around the neck. The snare had cut into the neck with some damage to the animal’s tissues. There is some disturbance to the ground around the badger, but it is possible that the badger had been caught within twenty four hours of my discovering it. Damage to the mouth and the wire itself suggested that the badger had tried to chew through the wire, making the snare no longer free running. There were no badger setts in the area and so this example shows how setting a snare on a natural animal path in the countryside, a very common practice, can catch non target species.

Case 2 - snared dog

A dog went missing in woodland running by a public path.  Within forty minutes, the dog was found dead by his owner, having been caught in a snare and strangled, but not before biting off his own tongue.

Every year, cats and dogs are caught in snares and are either found dead or are rescued by their owners.

Case 3 - snared deer and fox

I discovered a line of twenty snares set through the whole width of a hillside woodland. All the snares were legal, but within this line were two dead animals, a fox and a deer. Both animals had been caught by the neck and died where they were trapped.  Some weeks earlier, I had found another dead snared deer close by the same area. Devastation to the foliage and ground around both animals suggested a struggle, possibly in an attempt to escape or defend themselves from predators. Neither animal was post-mortemed and so could have died for a number of reasons such as a broken neck, starvation or strangulation.

Generally, where the snares haven’t been checked for days, starvation will be the cause of death. During this time the trapped animal may have to fend off predators and as each day and night passes the struggle for freedom becomes less and the animal weakens until it finally dies.

My findings out in the field suggest that badgers will stay alive for longer than any other snared animal and I have found badgers still hanging onto life after five days. Post mortems and disturbance to the ground give an idea of how long the animal has been caught.  The typical ”doughnut” around a snared animal is the shape in the earth left by a snared animal as it struggles, digging deep into the ground as it circles around the anchor to the snare. Some doughnuts can be as deep as two feet.

Further clear and disturbing evidence of the time an animal has been caught in a snare can be found in the injuries that it has caused to itself. Within a short time, the snare can have the effect of a cheese wire. The animals are desperate to escape and pull on the wire with such force that it can cut into the neck or abdomen. I have found animals that are alive and it is not until the animal is cut free from the snare and lifted that it is clear that the animal must be euthanised immediately with the wire almost cutting the animal in two and only because a vital organ has not been ruptured the animal is still breathing.

Case 4 - two foxes snared

A stink pit is a common and legal way for gamekeepers to lure animals into snares. Foxes and other predators smell the rotting animals, dumped in a pile on the ground and surrounded by a wall of branches with snares set among them.

I remember the snares on one particular day - they looked legal in themselves and had been set legally around a stink pit. I found two foxes which had died and appeared to have put up a huge struggle. The branches used to construct a wall around the stink pit had got caught around the snare wire as both animals struggled, and they had probably died of strangulation.

Case 5 - badger caught in snare

A large adult female badger was found amongst deep foliage with a snare around her body, which had caused deep wounds. The wounds were infested with maggots and the badger was euthanized. During post mortem the vet suggested that she might have been in the snare for less than twenty four hours – the period that the law allows between inspections.

About SnareWatch

I would like to say that these are all the incidents that I recall, but this is far from the case. Visiting areas where snares may be located is only part of my work as I cover many other issues related to animal protection. Unfortunately it appears that snares are being set in huge numbers, including hundreds on a single shooting estate, making it difficult for those that set them to check the snares within a twenty-four hour period.

SnareWatch is a great tool which will help collate incidents nationwide. We hope to receive reports from everybody who comes across a snaring incident, be it a vet, a rambler, a member of a wildlife rescue organisation or other animal welfare organisations.

We already understand just how devastating snares are to wildlife as well as to domestic animals and what pain and suffering they can cause.  But we must continue to collect information about snaring incidents and keep building the case for having snares banned, once and for all.

As somebody who has seen first-hand the agonising effects a snare can have on an animal I urge you to report any incidents of snaring that you may come across and help us in our work. Please look up www.snarewatch.org to learn more.

The day began with heavy rain and I thought that it would be another eight hours of sitting and praying for a break in the sky like the previous two visits to the skydive centre, but by mid-day things began looking hopeful. As the clouds began to give way to brilliant blue skies the experienced and professional sky divers went up to test the weather conditions for us amateurs waiting on the ground in excited anticipation. I was by the ground radio system that was listening into the pilot and then the word came through that it was good to go for all skydivers!

My excitement about the opportunity to fall out of the sky at 10,000 feet was suddenly doubled when, just before my name was called to prepare for the jump, I was privileged to observe a truly amazing spectacle. A jump instructor pointed to the sky above the runway and at first I thought that he was observing the skydivers who had just left the first plane of the day to go up. As I looked at what he was pointing at I saw something pretty incredible and special. Up to twelve buzzards, flying low to the ground, were circling one another in a tight group formation, slowly and silently drifting across the runway.

I had never seen such a sight before involving so many buzzards as this species of raptor tend to fly solo or in pairs. Maybe they had come to cheer me on in my jump, which was to highlight the continued illegal persecution and slaughter of raptors across Britain, as well as raising funds for our investigations department.

After this magnificent site it was now my turn to soar like an eagle! Climbing to 10,000 feet I made my way to the edge of the plane door and I was away! For thirty seconds I was falling at 118mph and then silence as the parachute opened. The slow descent was incredible, although the landing was a little hard, but no broken bones at least. All in all it was a magical day and one which will help OneKind investigations to continue to be an effective force in our work to protect animals from persecution, cruelty and exploitation.

Thank you again to all those people who have sponsored my event and if you haven’t sponsored me, but still would like to donate to the completion of my skydive challenge then please go to my sponsor webpage.

PS. Watch this space for the OneKind Investigations department’s brand new 2012 challenge coming soon!

I arrived at the location, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and found the run-down yard where these animals were living.  The farm yard was littered with old broken down circus vehicles with ‘Romano Circus’ written on the sides. On the ground by the stable unit, covered in a tarpaulin sheet, was a dead guanaco – a type of llama. Beside the dead animal there were black bin liners, full of animal waste.

Further along the building I found an open door and so I stepped into the unit. Once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could make out the shapes of animals living inside this old run down shed. Four ponies stood in concrete pens and further along, in a different part of the building, were a donkey and two llamas. I could only see these animals clearly by using my video light. There was no electricity and thus no artificial lighting in the shed.  I wondered what winter was like for the animals, especially if – as I had been told – they were seldom let out into the daylight for exercise.

To get a better picture of the day-to-day care of the animals I wanted to speak to their owner.  The following day I visited the site again and spoke to Julian Morrison in his yard. He told me stories of travelling across the UK with ‘Circus Romano’ and he even claimed to be planning to go back out on the road in the future and was looking at obtaining bison, zebra and palomino horses from Prague. He said that he was one of only five registered animal trainers in Scotland and that in the past he had trained many species of wild animals including big cats.

Mr Morrison admitted that his ponies, donkey and llamas rarely, if at all, went out as he was afraid that they would escape from the paddock. He did say that in the past, when they were let out, they would be tethered.

I decided I should pass the information that I had gathered onto the Scottish SPCA for them to investigate further. The following day, Inspectors arrived at the site and removed four ponies and the donkey. Sadly, two of the four ponies were later humanely put down due to their poor condition.

July 2011

Two years passed before the case came to court in Edinburgh. I was concerned about the slow pace of the process, but glad to know that the two ponies and donkey were living a good and happy life at a Scottish SPCA rescue centre.

Eventually, on Friday 8 July Mr Morrison appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and after a three day trial he was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering (Section 19 of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006).  Sentencing was deferred for a medical report, to assess whether Mr Morrison was fit to keep animals.

On 22 July, the medical report was read and the Sheriff allowed Mr Morrison to have the two remaining ponies and the donkey returned from the rescue centre where they had spent the past two years.  As I understood it, his only penalty for the animal cruelty conviction was that he could not obtain any more ponies or donkeys.

I was disappointed – and mystified. This was the same court that convicted Mr Morrison only two weeks previously for causing animal suffering.  Anyone who knows about animal cruelty cases will tell you that it is a challenge to get a case into court – the legal system sets the bar pretty high. So, when an owner is taken to court and convicted of causing animal suffering, surely that is proof enough that he is not able to care for his animals.

Two ponies had to be put out of their misery – but after two long years, the surviving ponies and the donkey had to go back to the place where they had lived so long in the dark and the dirt. Where is the justice for these animals?

During my walks on the 18,000 acre Leadhills Estate in South Lanarkshire, I have uncovered three live snared badgers, dead buzzards, dead snared foxes and dead deer. At the end of last year, I showed naturalist Bill Oddie some of these scenes, and his reaction was filmed to support the OneKind campaign against snaring.

On another occasion, I even stood and watched a gamekeeper from the estate stake a dead rabbit, baited with the highly toxic poison carbofuran, to the ground on top of a hill.  Across the UK, dozens of birds such as golden eagles, hen harriers, buzzards and sea eagles are found dead from ingesting this same poison. Any animal eating carbofuran will die an agonising death and for humans, just touching it can cause serious illness or even death.

This observation led eventually to the gamekeeper's conviction for an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

After walking for a while on the hills with the BBC crew, we came across a stink pit. This is an area where dead animals - usually hares, foxes and sometimes even sheep and deer - are placed and left to rot. Branches are cut down from the surrounding trees and constructed on the ground to make a wall around the rotting animals.

Gaps are left within this wall and snares are placed within these. Although stink pits are legal, they are also indiscriminate as they can attract many different species apart from the targeted fox. Any predator may be attracted including the protected badger, pine marten or even pet cats and dogs.

Later, by a dry stone wall, we found a spring cage trap of a type which is not recognised under Scottish regulations. This cage is split into two and held open by a piece of wood that has been cut in two. Bait such as a dead hare is placed at the bottom of the cage and when a bird lands on the wooden perch it collapses and the cage closes in on itself, capturing the bird.

The cage is indiscriminate as any predatory or carrion eating bird can be attracted by the bait including protected birds of prey. As the cage snaps shut, a bit like a Venus fly trap, the bird may get its wings caught and injure itself. Mammals such as badgers, foxes and pine marten can also be the victims of this trap if they were to put their heads into it in an attempt to retrieve the bait. I have found these traps being used on other estates where there was a population of raptors in the area.

After recording this find, I took the film crew into the woodland just by where we had found the cage spring trap. It didn't take long to discover three dead birds of prey. All these birds had been buried in shallow graves within the woodland. Looking at the condition of the earth that covered them as well as the decomposition of the three protected birds I guessed that they had been dead for approximately six months. Due to their condition I couldn't say how they had died, but it was clear that somebody didn't want them found.

The day ended at another active stink pit surrounded by snares, but thankfully no animals were caught in them. Snares can only be set with the landowner's permission. On this occasion, the snares were set within private forestry land on the shooting estate and we believed that no permission had been given. It appeared to us therefore that those snares might be illegally set.

Sadly, the killing of wildlife appears to be on the increase with an ever-increasing number of raptors being found killed deliberately across Scotland, and illegal trapping and snaring being discovered almost on a routine basis. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

See the BBC Scotland documentary Fair Game? on BBC 2 Scotland tonight at 9pm, Tuesday 11 May - or catch it on the iPlayer.

Sponsor Steve!

All birds of prey are protected by law in the UK but they continue to be the target of systematic criminal activity, including poisoning, shooting, nest destruction and the illegal use of cage traps and spring traps (e.g. pole traps).

Scotland experiences a disproportionate amount of the known illegal bird of prey killing in the UK and last year our Field Research and Investigations Officer was instrumental in securing an important conviction of a gamekeeper for setting poisoned bait on a Scottish shooting estate. In 2009, there were 384 reported incidents of bird of prey persecution in the UK, including: 224 in England; 123 in Scotland; 17 in Wales and 11 in Northern Ireland*.

Our Field and Investigations Officer, Steve has seen firsthand what man is capable of doing to our amazing wildlife and is always shocked and saddened when he comes across more evidence of raptor persecution.

Steve says: "When we see the official figures of dead raptors such as golden eagles, hen harriers and buzzards found poisoned or shot, we must consider that these crimes may only be the tip of the iceberg. The nature of such crimes often takes place in very isolated areas of the country where many people may never visit.

"I have chosen to highlight the persecution of raptors as part of my sky dive as I believe that these birds symbolise more than any other, the wildness that we still have in our country and how we must continue to preserve and protect them, as well as other wildlife, for their sakes and for our future generations!"

All donations to Steve's sky dive will help to obtain essential equipment to keep Steve in the field and gathering more materials for the work of OneKind. It costs £120 per day to keep OneKind's Field Research and Investigations Officer in the field saving animal's lives.

Sponsor Steve!

*From RSPB Birdcrime 2009 Report

UPDATE: (August 2011) Sadly the weather conspired to prevent the jump. Typical, after several days of glorious sunshine, Steve was told that conditions were too risky for a jump. The skydive is now rescheduled for next month and we will be bringing you photos and more updates when it happens. Thanks again so much to everyone who has donated, your generosity and kindness has been incredible.

I knew that the local authority did not permit the use of wild animals on its land. Yet there was Anne the elephant, shuffling into the big top during the interval to have her photograph taken with the public for £5 a picture.

I wasn’t surprised. The same thing had happened two years ago in Kilmarnock. OneKind (then Advocates for Animals) and the Captive Animals’ Protection Society had asked the local council not to give the circus a licence to perform in the town.

Although not prepared to withhold the licence, the council did stipulate that Anne was not to be used in performance. But there, too, I had seen this elderly animal brought out to amuse the public by eating a bit of candyfloss, and to earn a few pounds from photographs.

Over the last couple of years, we have monitored the progress of this circus on its regular summer tour of lowland Scotland. We have reported apparent breaches of licences, breaches of leases and breaches of the law to local authorities.

Just last year, I watched Anne being loaded into her trailer, where she would no doubt be shackled in the dark, at 4 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon.The circus moved on, and I watched for Anne being unloaded. It was 1 o’clock the next day before she was finally brought out into the daylight again. We reported this as a breach of the animal transport regulations, but the circus explained to council officers that they had kept her on the trailer “as it was raining”.

As an investigator, I know how hard it is to get evidence about what is happening inside any animal operation, especially a circus. So in addition to identifying and documenting what we believed were breaches of conditions, we also told the authorities why the circus life was no life for any animal, least of all a wild animal.  Constant travelling, cramped conditions, confinement, tethering and shackling, being made to perform pointless, unnatural tricks – we could prove all that. 

Within the last several years, two other well known circuses - Chipperfield’s and the Great British Circus - have been exposed for their connection with elephant abuse. It seems whenever a camera is set up to observe elephants working inside a British circus, the results are the same, recording after recording of elephant beatings, with staff using iron bars, pitch forks, heavy sticks, metal hooks, fists and feet.

But there was no such evidence of abuse in the Bobby Roberts Circus and to a large extent our other, documented concerns fell on deaf ears until the dramatic expose by our brave colleagues in Animal Defenders International that has literally shocked the world.

Although heartbreaking to watch, it appeared to me that the abuser in the new film was beating Anne quite openly, not looking around first to see if anybody was watching. Other circus staff could be seen spitting in the face of a camel and beating horses and ponies. This last exposé was what was needed, and I just hope that it makes the politicians listen.

Because even if Anne is re-homed to live out her few remaining years in a more peaceful setting, she is not the only one. Tethered near her, I used to see Monty the camel, who didn’t even perform but was exhibited in the small menagerie tent, which the public could visit for a fee. 

As an animal investigator I appreciate the hard work that went into obtaining that film footage at the Bobby Roberts winter quarters. I myself have seen abuse in British animal circuses and understand the need to uncover such atrocities towards these fine, majestic and defenceless animals.

The investigators have done their jobs and now I feel it is time for the politicians to decide that we have no place in our modern society for wild animal circuses.

If you live elsewhere in the UK please take action here.

I had discovered these snares on a visit to a shooting estate where pheasants were being reared for shooting.

There were pheasant pens everywhere and surrounding them were snares. Some of the snares had been set legally, but others appeared to have been crudely and unlawfully set. Next to some of these snares there were Fenn traps, which are like giant steel mouse traps.

Set in the correct way, these are unfortunately a legal method of killing animals such as stoats, weasels and rats (watch out for my future blogs on these traps and how to spot an illegal spring trap during your country walks). On closer inspection these Fenn traps had clearly been set next to the snares to be used as leg hold traps and any animal, such as a fox or badger, caught in such a trap would certainly sustain serious injury, crushing or breaking of the leg. It is unclear who set these Fenn traps, as the two keepers who managed the area denied knowledge of them.

However, one keeper did admit to setting the snares after I called the police in to investigate these crimes. I know far too well from first-hand experience that, even though no animals had been caught in the offending snares, the outcome for any animal caught in such a trap could have been unimaginable suffering and ultimately death.

Unfortunately, though we are talking about illegal snares in this instance, the suffering and death of wild animals in legal snares can be just as unpleasant. The images I have in my mind from other cases of snaring will never leave me and as for the photos and film images, they are far too disturbing to produce here.

I am very happy by this conviction, but disappointed that more charges against the keeper relating to illegal setting of snares as well as possession of an illegal poison was not pursued by the courts and the not guilty plea by the gamekeeper was accepted.

What we must remind ourselves when we talk about discoveries of illegal snares is that these devices are almost exclusively set far away in remote areas of our countryside and so anything uncovered will be just the tip of the iceberg. Sadly, indications since the new Snares (Scotland) Order came in last March are that some gamekeepers are continuing to flout the law.

Let us celebrate this recent conviction, but let us also be mindful that snares are cruel, indiscriminate and totally unnecessary and are still out there in their thousands.

Please support us now for a complete ban and email your MSPs. You can also make a donation to help ensure we can continue these important investigations.

And why do people believe that they can break the law and get away with it?

A while ago I stood on a shooting estate in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, just yards from a gamekeeper as I watched him stake a rabbit into the ground which was heavily laced with the highly toxic and illegal poison, Carbofuran. The crime took moments to carry out, but if the poison had been left it could have killed many animals such as birds of prey, badgers, foxes, crows and any other animal that saw the bait as an easy meal. Only quarter of a mile from the site of the poison was a public caravan site and anybody wandering up the hill and making contact with the Carbofuran could have been seriously ill or have even died.

So it was easy enough to do.  But the detection of such crimes is not easy due to the isolated locations where these incidents take place. Even when poisoned protected animals are found, then proving who carried out such a serious wildlife crime is almost impossible.  In this case, an immediate response from the Scottish SPCA made a huge difference to the final outcome.

Interestingly and possibly tellingly, the reason the gamekeeper gave in court for setting out such a highly toxic and illegal poison was that he wanted to impress his employers.  Unfortunately this incident is not an isolated one in the UK. OneKind supports any new legislation which will assure more accountability at all levels, and deter these deliberate crimes against our wildlife.

Please read Libby’s blog for further details on this case.