A total ban on the use of animal snares was ruled out by the Scottish Government yesterday.
Environment Minister Mike Russell said new controls would strictly limit snare use and ban certain types of snares that inflict unnecessary suffering, but ministers stopped short of bringing in the total ban some animal welfare groups had been expecting.
Mr Russell said new penalties to punish people who use them illegally will also be considered with a view to legislation in the policy outlined yesterday.
A spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports said last night members were "terribly disappointed".
Their campaign had won the backing of high profile animal lovers, including actress Joanna Lumley, Queen guitarist Brian May and Annette Crosbie from the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave.
An opinion poll carried out last year for the league found only 19% of people in Scotland were aware snares were legal, and 75% wanted them banned.
Barry Hugill, league spokesman, said: "How can Mr Russell claim to speak for the Scottish people when he ignores their clear wishes?"
Mr Russell said: "I greatly respect those who campaign for a complete ban on snaring and I empathise with them ... yet no responsible politician can ignore the fact that there are those who argue equally passionately that snaring is a regrettable but essential tool for high quality land management in Scotland.
"A Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust field experiment showed that predator control increased the breeding stock of the wild grey partridge by 42%. Without such control, stocks declined in most years."
The measures to be introduced include a requirement for safety stops to be fitted, to prevent the noose on snares from closing too far and inflicting damage on animals.
Snares will also have to have ID tags, so the authorities, but not the public, can identify their owner.
Setting snares in places where they could cause unnecessary suffering - such as on posts or over water - will be banned, and snared areas will have to be clearly marked.
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