BAN THEM NOW!

GOVERNMENT MUST ACT!

Animals will continue to suffer in snares following the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) recommendation that snares should still be used - despite failing to produce hard evidence to justify claims that snares are humane.

In many instances, whether legal or illegal snares are used, the suffering is unacceptable. Animals are disembowelled, suffer strangulation and in cases where the snares are not regularly checked, the animals starve to death."

The Badger Trust (formerly National Federation of Badger Groups) recently published a comprehensive report "The case for a ban on snares" highlighting concerns with using snaring as a means of pest control, and making a compelling case for the use of snares to be totally banned. It is as a result of the information contained in this report that the RSPCA, Scottish SPCA, League Against Cruel Sports and others have joined the campaign for a change in legislation that will ultimately make all snares illegal.

Over half of all Labour backbenchers have signed an Early Day Motion (EDM). The EDM expresses concern that the current legislation contained in the Wildlife And Countryside Act 1981 does not adequately protect wildlife from unnecessary suffering and death, and calls on the Government to abolish the manufacture and use of all snares. The Scottish Executive has already proposed amendments to the existing legislation.

The use of free-running snares in Britain is legal, and many landowners use this device as a means of pest control, particularly with regard to foxes and rabbits. But snares are indiscriminate. They cannot differentiate between animals and consequently many animals, other than those the snares are intended for, are caught and killed or maimed. This includes domestic pets, livestock, birds and protected species, such as badgers.

Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, current legislation on the use of snares stipulates that snares must be free-running and must be checked once a day (so that any caught animal suffers as little as possible). Free-running snares are theoretically meant to work by trapping the victims until they are humanely dispatched. However, many legal snares are being handled illegally by being left for days, weeks or even months unchecked by the operator.

This Badger was alive when it was found. A snare had almost severed it in half.

This can result in animals starving to death, or the legal devices can turn into illegal self locking snares due to the animal thrashing about in an attempt to escape. The snares can also become frayed or rusty, becoming even more painful and dangerous for the trapped animals.

"The illegal 'self-locking' snare has a ratchet action, getting tighter and tighter as an animal pulls to get free. Permitted 'free-running' snares should not tighten in this way, but often produce the same result by twisting or tangling," Dr Elaine King, Chief Executive of the NFBG explained.

It is believed that thousands of animals die or suffer injuries each year as a result of snares. To ascertain anything other than an estimated figure is impossible because snares are generally set on private land, resulting in few reported or recorded incidents.

The pictures depict just how cruel and barbaric the practice of snaring is, and the type of terrible injuries that can be inflicted.

Typical consequences for an animal caught in a snare are: severe lacerations, death by strangulation or death by starvation (when snares are not frequently checked). Many suffer horrific injuries from struggling in a desperate attempt to escape - there have been instances of animals severing a limb or chewing through their own limbs in order to escape the snare.

"Many animals including badgers continue to suffer horrific injuries in snares. These barbaric devices are indiscriminate and often result in gruesome and protracted strangulation for a strong, heavy animal such as the badger. In many cases, the snare cuts deep into the neck or abdomen as the animal struggles to break free, causing terrible injuries and a lingering death," Dr King stated.

Dr King concluded: "All snares present an unacceptable risk to wildlife and other animals. The only way to stop the indiscriminate cruelty they cause is a total ban on all snares."

Tell DEFRA Minister Hilary Benn MP that the government must ban these barbaric traps (as many other European countries have done) and do it now: ASK FOR A REPLY!

Hilary Benn MP
Defra
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
E MAIL her at hilary.benn@defra.gsi.gov.uk

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