FOX DIES TERRIBLE DEATH ON STANHOPE ESTATE
Fox dies terrible death in a snare set at Park Plantation, Stanhope Estate, County Durham.
Snaring is what the Countryside Alliance calls a "vital tool in the armoury of the gamekeeper." This is their "vital tool" at work:
NASC's North-East correspondent who found the snare writes:
The fox had pulled the chicken wire down from the top wire strand and then had gone three times around the top wire strand, and had bitten away at the top of the fence post in its struggles.
It was found dead with its back feet touching the ground. There were no signs of the fox having been shot, and it appears to have been left to die with the snare attached around its neck and front leg.
A female police officer called to the scene was brought to tears by the sight. Only in May of last year (report 'The Journal' Newcastle 13th May 2003) a gamekeeper and his employer, Croglin Estates were fined for setting a pole trap which caught a short-eared owl, and offences related to the keeping of pesticides.
Posted: 6.11.2004
