OneKind believes snare users in Scotland should report their captures to the Scottish Government.
OneKind is calling for a reporting requirement to be added to a forthcoming Order - the Snares Identification Number and Tagging (Scotland) Order 2012 – to be laid before the Scottish Parliament this summer. The Order already provides that records must be kept of snaring activities, including the location of snares and a capture report, and these could simply be passed to the Scottish Government.
While OneKind continues to fight for the cruel and indiscriminate snaring of animals to be banned throughout the UK, a properly observed and enforced reporting requirement would bring much-needed transparency about the use of these traps. A full picture of the extent of snare use, the number of target and non-target animals caught, and their fate will be essential when the Scottish legislation on snaring is reviewed in 2016.
Other developments over snare use include last week’s approval by the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee of the Scottish Parliament of four shooting and gamekeeping organisations, and four Scottish colleges, to deliver training courses. Snare users who pass the courses will be issued with an identification number which must be attached to all snares in use in Scotland from January 2013.
OneKind has concerns about the adequacy of the training courses. Some appear to be delivered more with an eye to avoiding prosecution and interference by so-called “antis”, rather than proactively achieving better welfare.
The two-hour course, without any veterinary input, leaves people to judge for themselves on issues such as whether to kill or release an injured non-target animal, or call a vet. On one recent course, participants were told that a badger caught round the front leg should be released, even if bleeding, on the basis that “it will heal itself”. OneKind believes that anyone following this advice would risk breaching the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. Participants have also been advised that feral cats are legitimate targets of snares.
South of the border, DEFRA’s long-awaited report into the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales shied away from addressing animal welfare properly. The standards against which animal welfare was measured did not apply to the species captured in snares in the UK; and clear signs of suffering, such as the fact that animals in field trials had died of strangulation, were not assessed as signs of poor welfare.
The report did however reinforce concern about the high rate of non-target captures in snares, even under so-called “best practice” conditions. 60% of users surveyed for the report had caught non-target animals in fox snares; and in field trials, 68% of 44 capture events involved non-target species.
New data from the Scottish SPCA for snaring incidents between 31 March 2011 and 25 April 2012 showed a 70% rate of non-target capture, including badgers, cats, deer, dogs, birds, hares, otters pine marten and rabbits. The same pattern emerges in reports to the OneKind SnareWatch website, where badgers and cats are commonly reported victims.
The UK government will consult shortly on its proposals for the future of snaring in England, based on the report, and OneKind will press for the response to be an outright ban.
We are not living in the dark ages anymore. Snaring of animals is cruel and inhumane and should be banned. Jail sentences and stiff fines must be imposed on those who murder innocent animals.
All animals have the right to live. Why do humans believe they have the right to kill them.
“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” Buddha
All use of snares should be illegal. Countries which still allow their use are living in the ‘dark ages’. Scotland WAKE UP!
Barbarism is on the increase and that means that only a few civilized people are remaining on this planet. What can we do about these people that call themselves human. Would they like to be caught in a snare?
Snares are barbaric - just as barbaric as killing hand reared birds which can hardly fly for so-called sport - which they are used to protect. Both should be banned. Meanwhile the names of those Estates where shoots take place should be listed prominently so they can be black-listed by the civilized and humane who may then choose to avoid their other money making activities until shooting - and snaring - cease. Maybe a ‘Wildlife Friendly’ logo could then be issued as a public attraction.
Snaring and entrapment is a crime against nature and should be illegal as part of the Countryside Act. This is a gross and barbaric practice. We need to learn to co-exist with our fellow creatures and engender respect. The practice in Bhutan is a prime example for us to follow.
Snaring is extremely cruel and barbaric. It has no place in a civilised society and must be banned immediately. Animals are sentient beings, just like humans. The killing and harming of animals should be punished with the same severity as the killing and harming of humans.
my local ‘Lord’ who owns half of all fields around here, is a regular snare user and blames it on poachers. Funny that the snares are placed near his main pheasant breeding/feeding facilty and before crops are taken, the snares are mysteriously removed. Wanker. all so him and his snotty mates can blast poor defenseless birds to satisfy their egos
Well done Scotland for making at least some progress with identifying snares.
Now let’s keep the pressure up and get them banned completely. After that we can work on getting the English parliament to come out of the dark ages.
Transparency in murdering & torturing innocent animals? Are you mad? Snares must be BANNED immediately forever…Full stop! How could any civilised country,or person think that this barbaric torture of a living creature is acceptable?Would the perpetrators,or the people that allow this primitive evil cruelty to happen like the same treatment inflicted on them? No, I wouldn’t think so! There is no justification in indulging is such acts of brutality. It is the duty of every decent human being to speak out against cruelty to animals…..Always remember that life is no less precious to the animal,than it is to the human.It is our responsibility to deal with all species with kindness, love and compassion! Embrace civilisation & ban barbaric snares forever!
We say we are a nation of animal lovers but we can’t be when we use these methods to kill innocent animals , if they are free to roam the country as they have been for centuries then who are we to kill them so violently It was God who created all creatures and it should be God who decides on there fate not a Government. Ban all cruelty to animals no matter what methods are being used. We have a voice lets use it to speak for these and all other living beings who cannot cry for help.
THE EVIL HEARTLESS HUMAN ! UNTIL THEY LEARN TO RESPECT LIFE IN ALL ITS FORMS, THE WORLD WILL EVOLVE SPIRITUALLY AND KARMA WILL ALWAYS FOLLOW !! A DISGRACE TO HUMANITY TO CAUSE PAIN /SUFFERING AND DEATH TO INNOCENT ANIMALS !
Snares should be illegal - what is wrong with the Animal Welfare Bill that this still continues?! As for the ‘estates’ they should also be banned, what right do they have to pursue their murderous ways? Chuck them all in jail to rot!
Peter on 07/07/12
The people that use snares have very little regard for animals of any type. They will claim they are ridding the countryside of pests. As they try to justify their actions, whilst they simply get a distorted pleasure from what they do. They have no compassion. This practice has to be banned completely, and a minimum prison sentence of 5 years for each and every offence committed, including any third party involvement.
Thank you everyone for your comments, it is so heartening to see the support for our campaign against snaring.
Irene (Irene Miller 29/6/12) - of course we are working for an outright ban on snares, UK-wide, as soon as possible. One problem we encountered last year,when lobbying MSPs for an amendment to the Scottish wildlife bill to create an outright ban,was that politicians simply didn’t believe the extent of the problem. We would show them examples but they believed these were odd incidents of bad practice, rather than the norm. That’s why we want these records to be passed to the Scottish Government and we can get figures into the public domain. It will strengthen our case.
This is a cruel and barbaric method of controling animal numbers and should be outlawed! Many snares are not checked daily as per requirement and many more are simply forgotten about.