This A5 leaflet gives an overview of the cruelty of snares and makes the case for them to be banned.
In April 2021 Animal Aid launched an anti-snaring campaign to bring parliamentary attention to the plight of the thousands of animals who suffer and die in these cruel contraptions every year.
Many groups and individuals are doing amazing work documenting and helping animals caught in snares. Our aim is to expose this suffering to the wider public and bring a parliamentary ban on the use of snares.
The Welsh Government banned snares in 2023, and the Scottish Government banned them in March 2024. We’re determined to achieve a similar ban on snares in England.
What's wrong with snares?
What is Animal Aid doing?
The campaign launched with a joint letter – spearheaded by Animal Aid and signed by more than twenty groups – calling on the prime minister and Defra minister to ‘implement an immediate ban on the manufacture, sale, possession and use of all snares’.
Countless groups supported the call, including the RSPCA, Cats Protection, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, The Badger Trust, A-LAW (UK Centre for Animal Law), Dogs Trust, Hunt Investigation Team, The League Against Cruel Sports, OneKind, FOUR PAWS UK, Blue Cross, Animal Defenders International, Viva!, Christian Vegetarian Association, Mahavir Trust, National Anti-Snaring Campaign (NASC), Wild Moors, The Naturewatch Foundation, PETA UK, HSIUK, Off the Leash, Born Free Foundation, Freedom for Animals and Animal Interfaith Alliance, as well as cosmetics giant Lush and academics Professor Andrew Knight and Dr Helen Lambert.
To get a better understanding of the breadth of their use, we wrote to wildlife and countryside groups to ask if they used snares on their land. The RSPB, Woodland Trust and Wildlife Trusts all confirmed they do not. Collectively, this accounts for more than 286,000 hectares of land.
The Woodland Trust does not support the use of snares and we endorse the call for a legal ban on snares – Woodland Trust
The Wildlife Trusts would never condone the use of snares, we are deeply concerned about the prolonged suffering they can inflict on wildlife. Unfortunately, the use of snares is still, in some instances, legal; and we would support banning them – Wildlife Trusts
Cosmetics giant Lush have long supported our work, and in August 2021 they joined the fight against snares. We joined forces with the Hunt Investigation Team and NASC and promoted the campaign in the windows of Lush stores across the country.
Lush’s flagship store on Oxford Street even hosted an incredible event to raise awareness of the campaign. This included aerial hoop dancers who performed a routine to represent animals being caught in snares – and the horror they experience. Passersby were encouraged to sign the government petition to ban snares.
To raise awareness of snares among MPs, we launched a government petition in May 2021 calling for a ban on snares. We very nearly achieved the 100,000 signatures required to trigger a parliamentary debate – but not quite.
Undeterred, we relaunched the government petition later that year. With the support of Chris Packham, Peter Egan, Deborah Meaden and the countless grassroots groups, activists, wildlife rescues and rehabbers who got involved, we reached 100,000 signatures within the 6-month deadline.
After a long wait, the debate finally took place in January 2023 and was attended by many MPs, including Ruth Jones, Margaret Ferrier, Olivia Blake, Tracey Crouch, Rachael Maskell and Patricia Gibson, who all spoke in favour of a ban.
In June 2023, Wales’ Rural Affairs Minister, Lesley Griffiths, successfully guided a ban on snares thorough the Welsh Parliament as part of the Agriculture (Wales) Bill.
The minister successfully rejected attempts by pro-shoot lobby groups to derail a ban – like their attempts to rebrand snares as ‘Humane Cable Restraints’ – concluding that
‘We strive for the very highest standards of animal welfare in Wales, and the use of snares and glue traps are incompatible with what we want to achieve. Many animals will now be spared the most terrible suffering as a result of this ban. I’m proud Wales is the first of the UK nations to introduce such a move.’
This surely encouraged the Scottish Government, which took the advice of the Scottish Animal Welfare Committee and banned snares in Scotland in March 2024. Despite the pro-shoot lobby once again trying to derail the process at the last minute, the Scottish Government confirmed its policy position of a full ban, which came into force in November 2024.
In England the government’s commitment is as follows:
‘As outlined in our manifesto, we will bring an end to the use of snare traps in England.’
Take action against snares
Since we started our campaign against snares, Wales and Scotland have both outlawed their cruel and indiscriminate use – in England we are still waiting.
