Snares
Northern Eco - 13th February 2001 by
John Dean
| Few rural issues evoke such anger as the use of snares.
Campaigners for
their abolition argue that the devices are cruel and indiscriminate, as not only do they catch the foxes they are set
but other animals too. Many Badger Groups, for instance,
can point to
incidents in which badgers, a protected species, have been caught.
|
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| "The man who deliberately sends a terrier to ground to face a
badger should resign from the human race." |
| David Stephen |
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And the RSPCA says snares are trapping more and more domestic pets. Its inspectors estimate that only
one-third of animals snared are the
target species and that the largest group of other creatures are cats.
Pressure group Animal Aid describes snares as evil, claiming that
rabbits and otters also wander into them, many suffering protracted and
agonising deaths.
But landowners and gamekeepers argue that, properly used, snares are an
effective way of protecting ground-nesting birds from predators which
steal eggs and chicks.
They say that increasingly tight laws governing methods such as
poisoning means that gamekeepers controlling predation are left with
little option but to use guns or snares.
There are two type of snare - the illegal self-locking version which
continues to tighten as the animal struggles, and the legal free-running
one which slackens off but still holds the animal. Gamekeepers, who have
by law to check snares daily, can then dispatch the trapped animals
swiftly and humanely.
Please click the following links to see how people argue in favour of
and against snares:
You probably won't be surprised to know that Badgerland are
against using snares!
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