Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill: use of snares and powers of Scottish SPCA inspectors - consultation

Part 1: Use of snares in Scotland

Overview

For the purpose of this consultation a "snare" or "cable restraint" means a thin wire noose used for catching and/or restraining a wild animal, such as a fox or a rabbit, for the purpose of wildlife management.

The use of traps and snares to manage wildlife is governed by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (the "1981 Act"). That Act require snaring operators to be trained, for their snares to be identified by a tag containing an ID number registered with NatureScot and for them to keep records, which must be made available to Police Scotland on request.

The Scottish Government recognises that there is the potential for snares to cause significant injury, prolonged suffering and death to wildlife. There is also a risk that non-target wildlife species and pet animals such as cats and dogs can be caught in them.

However, snares can be a useful tool needed for the control of some species, such as rabbits and foxes in order to protect livestock and agriculture.

Many animal welfare groups have called for snares to be banned on animal welfare grounds and in May 2022 the British Veterinary Association (BVA) and the British Veterinary Zoological Society (BVZS) published a paper setting out its policy position on snaring. After considering the available evidence they concluded that:

"In light of the above evidence, we call for an outright ban on the use and sale of snares. We consider that there are sufficient alternative means of prevention and deterrence and lethal control available, including cage trapping and shooting, such that there is no justification for the use of snares even under a licensing regime. A ban should encompass the use of homemade snares."

And recommend that:

"The UK Governments should introduce an outright ban on the use and sale of snares to both the general public and trained operators."

However, some land management groups argue that their continued use should be allowed on the basis that they are an essential tool needed for the control of some species, such as rabbits and foxes, in order to protect livestock and crops and to tackle biodiversity loss by protecting vulnerable species such as ground nesting birds.

Position in the rest of the UK and Europe

The use of snares is currently permitted in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, subject to certain conditions laid out in their applicable legislation. However, on 27 June 2023 the Welsh Parliament passed the Agriculture (Wales) Bill. The Bill makes it an offence for any person to use a snare or any other cable restraint to capture a wild animal.

Review of snaring

Reflecting the importance of the discussions around snaring, under section 11F of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 the Scottish Government is required to undertake a review of the regulations governing snaring every 5 years. The last statutory review was completed in February 2022 and the report and recommendations were published on the Scottish Government website 1st April 2022.

We sought views on the recommendations of the Statutory Review of snaring in our 2022 consultation, therefore we are not asking for your thoughts on the findings of the Statutory Review of snaring in this consultation.

During General Question Time at the Scottish Parliament on 25 November 2021, the then Minister for Environment and Land Reform, confirmed in response to a question from Colin Smyth MSP in relation to the Grouse Moor Management Review Group recommendations, that the Scottish Government would extend the scope of the snaring review to include a potential ban on snares in Scotland.

Following this announcement, we asked the Scottish Animal Welfare Commission ("SAWC") to provide us with their views on the welfare implications of snaring. We also asked the Rural Environment and Land Management Group ("RELM") to provide us with their views on the implications of a ban for land management practices.

SAWC conclusion and recommendations

The conclusions and recommendations from the SAWC report are set out below:

"Wild mammals and birds are known to be sentient and capable of experiencing pain and other negative sensations. Any traps that do not instantly kill or render them irreversibly unconscious are likely to impact their welfare. Therefore, the use of snares in the lethal control of terrestrial mammals raises significant welfare concerns. Non-target species caught in snares will also suffer and may die, often very slowly. Neonates and juveniles may starve to death, if traps catch an adult on which they are dependent within their breeding season.

"SAWC concludes that snares cause significant welfare harms to members of both target and non-target species."

"SAWC recommends that the sale of snares and their use by both public and industry are banned in Scotland, on animal welfare grounds."

The full report has been published on the Scottish Government website and can be found here – Scottish Animal Welfare Commission - snaring: position paper.

Summary of RELM recommendations

The summary findings of the RELM report are set out below:

• "Technical adjustments to cable restraints including safety stop positioning, double swivels and breakaway sections now considerably reduce welfare risks
• "The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 has accelerated behavioural change including more selective use and siting of snares and reduction of the time during which they are deployed
• "The Act has prompted novel use of mobile technology to improve record-keeping and use of information gathered during checks. We suggest that use of this facility is at least given fair chance to assess changes to welfare, record-keeping, and incident statistics.
• "Significant concern regarding the conservation status of emblematic Scottish bird species means that all current, legal forms of predator control must be retained for the time being if we are to assist their recovery
• "Data on incidents and prosecutions suggests a steady decline since changes introduced by the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011.
• "Nevertheless, this information can be further improved to understand and isolate problems.
• "It would be illiberal to remove snaring without better insight and objective assessment of any concerns relative to the public good deriving from species conservation."

The full report has been published the Scottish Government website and can be found here.

Scottish Government response to the extended review of snaring

In its response to the wider review of snaring, the Scottish Government announced that it would bring forward amendments at Stage 2 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill to ban the use of snares.

The Scottish Government recognises that control of predators is sometimes necessary in order to protect vulnerable species, as well as livestock and agriculture, and that land managers should be allowed to take action to effectively manage wildlife for these purposes.

However, we believe that there is sufficient evidence to show that use of snares can lead to unacceptable levels of suffering for wild animals. Further, even where snares are used in strict accordance with the conditions set out in the 1981 Act, they remain, by their nature, indiscriminate and as such they pose an unacceptable risk to non-target species including other wildlife and domestic species such as cats.

The Scottish Government is satisfied that other, more humane and efficient methods of predator control such as shooting and trapping are available to land managers and that a ban on the use of snares would not prevent them from undertaking necessary wildlife management.

Banning the use of snares will ensure that the Scottish Government continues to meet its commitments to uphold the highest standards of animal welfare.

Scottish Government Proposals

Section 11 of the 1981 Act currently states that it is an offence if any persons:

"(a) sets in position or otherwise uses any self-locking snare or a snare of any other type specified in an order made by the Scottish Ministers;

(aa) sets in position or otherwise uses any other type of snare which is either of such a nature or so placed (or both) as to be calculated to cause unnecessary suffering to any animal coming into contact with it;"

The maximum penalty for these offences is, on summary conviction, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding £40,000 (or both), and on conviction on indictment, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine (or both).

We are proposing to amend the 1981 Act to:

• Prohibit the use of a snare or other type of cable restraint for the purpose of killing or trapping a wild animal; and
• Prohibit the use of a snare or other type of cable restraint in any way that is likely to injure a wild animal.

Section 11 of the 1981 Act also sets out that:

"Subject to the provisions of this Part, any person who—

(a) is, without reasonable excuse, in possession of; or

(b) sells, or offers or exposes for sale,

a snare which is capable of operating as a self-locking snare or a snare of any other type specified in an order under subsection (1)(a) shall be guilty of an offence".

At this time, while we will keep this under review and will continue to discuss with key stakeholders, we are not proposing to include in this bill to make it an offence to possess or sell any other type of snare other than those already prohibited under section 11 of the Act.

This is because many snares that are set are made by practitioners using readily available materials and therefore a ban on the sale of snares will have a limited affect.

We are also aware that some types of permitted snares and cable restraints may be used for purposes that don't include the trapping and killing of a wild animal. Therefore a full ban on the sale of such items may have unintended consequences for activities not within the consideration of this Bill.