Scottish snare ban to be enforced in November
All snaring becomes illegal in Scotland from the end of next month, despite arguments in favour of humane restraints under licence.
From 25 November it will be an offence to set a snare in Scotland for the purpose of killing or restraining a wild animal.
Jim Fairlie, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, notified Scottish parliament of the date for the ban on snares in response to a question from Green MSP Ariane Burgess.
The ban will be immediate from 25 November with no phasing-out period, but as it does not extend to the possession of snares, it will not be necessary to destroy them nor hand them in.
The ban became law in spring of this year as part of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. Rural organisations including the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA), National Farmers’ Union Scotland and the GWCT strongly opposed the ban at the time.
In place of an outright ban, the SGA advocated for the use of new-style humane cable restraints (HCRs).
It argued that HCRs should be permitted for use under licence in wildlife management, due to their studied welfare improvements and the huge positive impact they have on the breeding success of a variety of fauna, including ground-nesting birds. Sadly, that stance was ignored and the Scottish parliament voted to outlaw all snaring.
The GWCT was one of the organisations involved in the development and trialling of the HCR. It argued that it demonstrated the restraints’ efficacy and humane usage in its research, and gave evidence to this effect to the Scottish government, as well as to the parliament’s rural affairs committee.
Following the announcement of the beginning of the ban, a GWCT spokesman said: “We deplore the loss of this vital tool for conservation and wildlife management.”
Scottish conservationist Patrick Laurie told Shooting Times: “Nobody will mourn the loss of snares in Scotland when the ban comes in on the 25 November. Nobody ever loved snares, but they were undeniably effective and valuable tools when it came to managing fox numbers.
“The regret will not be for snares but for the wide range of threatened and endangered species that depended upon snaring as part of a wider programme of predator control. This kind of management gets harder and harder all the time, to a point at which it may soon be completely impossible.”
