The Perth-based Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) has written to ministers recommending existing snares be banned in Scotland and replaced with new humane devices.
The gamekeeper representative body at Inveralmond, which has 5300 members, claims the new device allows an animal to break free and represents a “major step-change” in animal welfare.
Some organisations such as SSPCA have persistently campaigned to ban snares, which trained land managers, poultry keepers and pest controllers use to restrain foxes prior to them being “humanely” put down.
The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission, set up by Scottish Government, recently recommended prohibition.
However, neither body has seen new humane holding device technology in use in this country as they have only been trialled in two places in Scotland, to date.
The new devices are fitted as standard with a lock which relaxes around the fox’s neck when held. This discourages pulling on the devices.
In addition, a shortened tail from the mid-point swivel to the anchor means the held fox cannot range so far from where the device is secured, reducing the risk of harm caused by trying to pull free.
Non-target species such as deer and badgers can free themselves from the holding devices, if they exert the type of pressure which animals of that size are capable of.
There is also a ‘stop’ system which ensures the device cannot tighten around a fox’s neck but stops at a diameter where this would be impossible.
“Many of the snares people see on these awful campaign videos are not actual snares and they are illegal,” said Paul Wilson, SGA committee member, who has used the new holding devices.
“They are often home-made, crude devices used by people such as poachers.
“This is abhorrent and is rightly condemned but it should not be confused with legal snaring carried out by professional, trained operators.
“By proposing this we are not saying existing legal snares, used by trained operators, are causing harm. This is about continually making improvements and ensuring the highest standards in legal predator management.
“Some of the snares examined by bodies such as Scottish Animal Welfare Commission in their report, for example, are older and have perhaps not been subjected to the same testing as the latest technology.
“That is why we recommend a phase-out of existing snares and for professionals to move over to the new technology, like they did recently and successfully with the new generation of traps for stoats, to meet International Humane Trapping Standards.
“There will be a cost to this, of course, but the new holding devices are more welfare friendly and strike a better balance between welfare and the needs of farmers, gamekeepers and pest controllers to have tools to be able to legally manage foxes in different circumstances.
“We feel this is a cost professionals involved in trained wildlife management will be willing to assume.
“We also recommend that all new holding devices are fitted with an ID tag obtained from Police Scotland, as per current snares.”
The SGA has trained more snare operators in Scotland than any other professional body and Scotland has the strictest regulations on snaring in the UK.
Snaring in Scotland is reviewed every five years as a condition of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
By law, snare operators must undergo training and certification, receive a personal ID tag from Police Scotland which must be fastened to all snares.
Snares must be checked by the operator, by law, every 24 hours.
In November 2022 Mairi McAllan MSP said she would widen the Scottish Government’s review to a potential ban.
The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission recommended that snares be banned on animal welfare grounds.
The SGA then wrote to MSP McAllan with the proposal to move over exclusively to the new devices.
This paper has since been re-submitted to MSP Gougeon, whose remit - following a reshuffle by new First Minister Humza Yousaf - now includes snaring.
