There is one more day to add your name to a parliamentary petition to ban the use, sale, and manufacture of free-running snares for trapping wildlife. In order to secure a debate in parliament, 31,522 signatures are still needed. 

A free-running snare is a wire loop restraining device which relaxes when the animal stops pulling, unlike already illegal self-locking snares which continue to tighten, and are used for ‘wildlife management’ primarily targeting foxes and rabbits. But free-running snares still cause serious stress, injury, and sometimes death to animals. Caught foxes are frequently found to have deep wounds in their necks as the wire cuts into their flesh. 

The snares also catch animals besides the ones for whom they are intended, including other wild animals and stray and companion animals - even though their use is supposed to be regulated in England and Wales under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, prohibiting people from setting them in places where they are likely to catch certain non-target animals. Snares are also legally required to be inspected at least once daily. Yet in August, a cat trapped in a snare in Sunderland had to be euthanised by a vet due to the severity of his injuries. The vet believes the cat had been trapped and suffering for around a week.

The petition, which has the support of groups like Animal Aid and the Battersea animal shelter, argues that the snares cause unnecessary suffering to animals, which makes them in breach of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and are indiscriminate in which animals they trap. There are non-lethal and non-harmful ways of managing conflicts with wild animals like foxes, including better fencing and scent-based deterrents. There is no justification for the continued use of cruel devices like snares.

The government responded to the petition in June, saying it recognised that “some people consider snares to be an inhumane and unnecessary means of trapping wild animals, while others maintain they are an essential tool in controlling certain species.” As a result, it plans to launch a call for evidence on the use of snares at an unspecified point in the future.

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Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

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