Charity calls on walkers in Scotland to report snares

Leading animal campaigns charity OneKind is calling on members of the public to report any snares or snaring incidents they find while out walking in Scotland.

OneKind has long-campaigned for a ban on the use, sale and manufacture of the traps, and in 2011 the charity set up SnareWatch, an information-sharing and report facility about snaring in the UK.

Snares are traps used in Scotland and the UK, mostly to protect gamebirds such as grouse and pheasants from foxes. However, snares often catch, injure and kill a wide of non-target species including deer, badgers, otters and even family pets like cats and dogs.

OneKind’s Director Bob Elliot said:

“Snares are cruel and indiscriminate, and even when used legally, they cause extreme mental and physical suffering to animals. This can only be stopped by a complete ban on the sale, use and manufacture of snares in Scotland.

“We urge anyone who is out walking in Scotland to take photos and report any snares or snaring incidents to us”

In 2017, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) announced that it would no longer be issuing licences for the snaring of mountain hares which effectively ended the practice.

Bob Elliot continued:

“The decision to stop issuing licenses for snaring mountain hares was especially significant because it was made because of the ‘unnecessary suffering’ cause by the traps. We believe this approach should be applied to the snaring of other wild animals too, as there is no difference between a mountain hare suffering in a snare and a fox suffering in one.”

Notes to editor:

1. OneKind is Scotland’s leading animal campaigns charity working to end cruelty to Scotland’s animals. OneKind works to expose cruelty and persecution through investigations and research covering Scotland’s wildlife, farm animals and pets. Find out more about our work at onekind.scot
2. OneKind’s SnareWatch website can be found here.
3. In 2018, OneKind launched a SnareWatch Facebook page which can be found here.