Snares

A snare is a thin, wire noose, which is ‘set’ and anchored to the ground to catch certain animals – like foxes or rabbits – by the leg or neck. These animals are accused of killing pheasants and partridges (who are destined to be shot for ‘sport’) or damaging crops.

There are two types of snare:

1. These snares are self-locking and they tighten using a ratchet motion when the animal struggles. They cause death by strangulation or neck dislocation. The use of self-locking snares is prohibited under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
2. Legal (in England). These snares are free-running, with a wire loop that is supposed to loosen when the animal stops trying to escape. However, free-running snares may fray or twist, making them lethal. Animals often do not stop trying to escape, which means they can cause unimaginable injuries to themselves and even die.

The law states that snares must be checked once every 24 hours. But 24 hours is a very long time to be trapped in a wire noose, even if the law is followed. Those who set snares may not check them once a day, meaning animals can die of shock, strangulation or dehydration.

The shooting industry has tried to ‘re-brand’ snares as ‘humane cable restraints’. These are simply snares (such as ‘type D’ snares, included in the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) 2012 research). The promotion of humane cable restraints was seen by the Welsh Government as a rebranding exercise, and the wording of its ban was designed to ensure they were covered by the legislation. Welsh minister, Lesley Griffiths, said that ‘a so-called humane cable restraint and a code-compliant snare are identical in every way and have been in use since 2012.’[i]

This also applies to England – the following diagrams illustrate the point:

The diagram on the left, taken from a Game and Wildlife Conservancy Trust briefing to the Welsh Government, illustrates a ‘humane cable restraint’ while the code-compliant snare is on the right, taken from the Code of Practice on the use of snares for fox control in England. Clearly, the two are identical.

In 2023 the Welsh Government introduced a total ban on snares. The Scottish Government then banned snares in 2024, under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill. England is now the only country in Britain that permits the use of snares.

When a snared animal tries to escape, the snare can become tangled or damaged and cut deeper and deeper through skin, muscles, bones or organs. Strangulation and death from injuries caused by snares are well documented.

Animals who are still alive when the snare is checked should, by law, be despatched quickly and humanely – but there is no way to regulate this. Snares also catch animals who have young waiting for them to return. This means the babies may die of starvation. Animals have been known to chew off their own limbs in their desperation to escape.

Capture myopathy and tonic immobility

A 2010 report by the University of Cambridge, for campaigning group OneKind, found that snared animals can experience capture myopathy, when they struggle to escape so much that they experience severe muscle damage. This can result in sudden death; or clinical signs can develop hours, days or even 2 months after capture.

Some trapped animals try to escape because they fear being attacked by a predator or need to return to offspring.

Other animals caught in snares freeze in a condition known as tonic immobility, a self-protective stress reaction also seen in humans – they literally freeze in fear. The OneKind report says it is ‘…a fear-motivated defence mechanism employed by some prey animals, such as the rabbit, after other strategies have failed. While it serves to limit injury and provide the possibility of escape, this behaviour is an indicator of extreme fear’.

Snares cause physical and mental harm to sentient animals, targeted because they ‘threaten’ the success and profits of the shooting industry.

While gamekeepers claim snares are used to catch certain animals, like foxes, who are accused of killing pheasants and partridges, other species are inevitably caught up in their savagery.

Between 2008 and 2010, Defra carried out research that resulted in the 2012 report Determining the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. The report admitted that ‘even free-running snares can kill animals under certain circumstances’.

Other findings included:

• Non-target animals caught during field studies conducted by the research team, including badgers, deer, hares, a pheasant and a dog.
• Lactating animals caught, leaving behind very young babies.
• Badgers escaped but with parts of the snare still attached to them.
• Animals found dead from being predated while trapped in the snare.
• Snares getting caught around the abdomen or neck and shoulder.
• 60% of fox snare users admitting they had caught non-target animals in fox snares, and 29% of rabbit snare users admitting they had caught a cat as a non-target species when using rabbit snares.

Overall, the research found that as many as 68% of captures, including animals who escaped, were non-target.

Several conservation organisations responsible for vast areas of land do not use snares. These include the RSPB, Woodland Trust and Wildlife Trusts. Meanwhile, our 2021 letter to the prime minister and Defra minister, calling for ‘an immediate ban on the manufacture, sale, possession and use of all snares’, was signed by 20 other organisations, showing widespread support.

Animal protection groups that oppose the use of snares include: 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, 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.

Public support for a ban is huge, with more than 100,000 signatures on our government petition and a 2021 YouGov poll finding 69% of people supporting a ban on snares and only 14% opposing a ban (the rest were undecided).