Ban Snares

A campaign launched last week to stop pets getting caught up in snares, has received support in the Scottish Parliament in a motion put forward by Labour MSP Irene Oldfather which asserts that Scotland's wildlife, pets and farmed animals should not be exposed to indiscriminate trapping methods such as snares which cause extreme suffering including disembowelment, mutilation and death by slow strangulation.

The Ban Snares campaign has been launched by Advocates for Animals and the League against Cruel Sports to inform the public about snares and why they should be banned. The organisers claim that feedback from the public has highlighted the number of dogs and cats that are being caught or killed in the traps.

Last December (2007), the Scottish SPCA produced a report on snaring [.pdf] compiled from the evidence of Scottish SPCA inspectors, wildlife crime police officers and vets. It showed that of 269 animals reported as having been caught in snares, 14 were dogs and 31 were cats. Five of the dogs and four cats were already dead or had to be euthanased.

The Ban Snares campaign is being sponsored by the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust and also has the support of a number of wildlfie organisations: the Scottish Badgers Chariyt, Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust, the Brown Hare Preservation Society and the International Otter Survival Fund.

Advocates for animals reports some horrific tales of the suffering of pets caught in snares. If you don't want to read on, and you might not want to, then this is a good place to tell you that a downloadable form to petition the Scottish Parliament for a ban on snares in Scotland is available here [.pdf].

Hanging is still legal in Scotland..

  • A cat named Tigger went missing near Scone for nearly a week. Despite desperate attempts to find her she did not return. On the 7th day a neighbour phoned to say that she thought that Tigger was caught in her fence. They found her hanging upside down, caught by her hind quarters. Tigger's owner said:

    "We were unable to see how she was caught but my neighbour's husband got some wire cutters and managed to free her. From her hips back, her body was rock hard she made no attempt to move, only this heart-rending meeow that was hardly audible. I immediately telephoned the vet who arranged to meet me in his surgery. He laid Tigger on his table and after a few minutes sunk his finger through her fur and using some cutters snipped the wire that was constricting her. At that moment, Tigger died. Tigger had been caught up in the snare for days and as it was at the bottom of the garden inside a hedge, nobody had heard her cries for help. A most distressing and heartbreaking time."


  • A Labrador's nose: An Advocates supporter tells the story of a dog:

    "Within the last 2 days, I had a personal experience (not the first time) of my Labrador dog being caught by the nose in such a device not 20 yards from a public path. Her state when I reached her, within a few minutes, was pitiful…The practice is clearly still widespread in our rural area in the name of "pest control" for the benefit of pheasant shooting. I cannot condone this so-called collateral and horrible damage to natural species. The ban must, in my view must be total - no compromises are acceptable."


  • The UK is one of a minority of European Member States that still allow snares to be used. An announcement on the future of snaring is expected next month from the Scottish Government. The Ban Snares campaign is hopeful that a ban in Scotland will lead the way for the rest of the UK.