The Scottish Government has announced its intention to allow snaring to continue. The decision contradicts overwhelming public support for a ban on these cruel and indiscriminate traps, and follows an official public consultation which revealed a majority of more than two to one in favour of a ban.
Instead of a ban, the minister has proposed to attempt to regulate the practice through a package of technical measures. However, we do not believe such measures will stop the wide-scale suffering or prevent the capture of non-target animals, including protected species.
The current regime already involves technical distinctions and voluntary codes of practice, but fails to prevent animal suffering. In our view, a ban on all snares will ultimately be the only way to address animal welfare and conservation concerns. In addition, cruelty - in whatever form it takes - whether inflicted on humans or animals, can never be regulated, only abolished.
Snares have no place in 21st-century Scotland. The campaign to ban snaring in Scotland will continue until these primitive traps are finally prohibited.
Ross Minett, Advocates for Animals; Louise Robertson, League Against Cruel Sports; Rodney Hale, Hare Preservation Trust; Andy Christie, Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue Trust; Grace Yoxon, International Otter Survival Fund; Ian Hutchison, Scottish Badgers; Les Ward, Marchig Animal Welfare Trust.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article