This afternoon, in a landmark moment, the Scottish Government banned snares.

Under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, which Parliament just passed, it will become an offence to use a snare to trap a wild animal, or in any way that is likely to injure a wild animal. 

“This is a monumental day in Scotland. The Scottish public have made it very clear that they want to see snares consigned to the history books and the Scottish Government has listened. We are delighted that the Scottish Parliament has passed a ban on these archaic traps”. Bob Elliot, OneKind Director.

OneKind’s Patron, Wildlife TV Presenter and Conservationist, Chris Packham, said: 

"The only thing snares were protecting was the cruellest parts of the shooting industry. Today is a big win for Scotland, for compassion and for common sense, but most importantly a win for our severely declining wildlife...Huge thanks to OneKind, a host of other welfare organisations, the Scottish public and ministers- we must all take bolder, unified action to stop the relentless war on nature." 

 

Decades of campaigning for a snaring ban

In March last year, the rural Affairs and Islands Committee in Parliament opened a call for views on the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill.  

The Bill proposed the licensing of grouse moors and a glue trap ban, but we also identified an opportunity in the consultation to push for a snaring ban, as the Scottish Government was considering what the provision on snaring should be. Alongside our supporters, we pressured the Scottish Government to commit to introducing a ban on snares in the Bill.  

This early pressure worked and the Scottish Government announced its intention to add a snaring ban to the Bill. As part of their scrutiny of the Bill the Committee held an extra evidence session on the proposed snaring ban, which we took part in, where we spoke strongly about the necessity of a full ban with no exceptions.

But our work didn’t start there. We have been campaigning for a ban on the use of snares for decades. 

From highlighting snaring incidents on our SnareWatch reporting tool, to marches down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, rallies outside Parliament, petitions, letter-writing actions, producing reports, and parliamentary work, we have continuously applied pressure to the Scottish Government to ban snares in Scotland. And our supporters have been by our side every step of the way. 

Because of you, today we can say that the 21st of March 2024 is the day that snares were consigned to Scotland’s history books.