Snare Laws in England and Wales

The use of snares in Britain is regulated under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Under the Act it is an offence for a person:

1. to set a self-locking snare in such a way as to be calculated to cause bodily injury to any wild animal. (Section 11(1)(a).)
2. to kill or take any wild animal using a self-locking snare. (Section 11(1)(b).)
   
3. to set a snare (or other article) in such a way as to be calculated to cause bodily injury to any animal listed in Schedule 6 of the Act (e.g., a badger). (Section 11(2)(a).)
   
4. to kill or take any animal listed in Schedule 6 of the Act (e.g., a badger) using a snare. (Section 11(2)(b).)
   
5. who sets a snare to fail to inspect that snare (or have someone else inspect it) at least once every day. (Section 11(3)(b).)
6. to set any type of snare unless they are an 'authorised person' under the Act (that is, the owner or occupier of the land on which the snare is set, any person authorised by the owner or occupier of the land, or a person authorised in writing by the Local Authority for the area. (Section 27(1).)
   
7. to possess a snare for the purpose of committing any of the above offences. (Section 18(2).)

Under the Deer Act 1991 it is an offence to use snares to kill or take deer.

To sum up, the use of self-locking snares, the setting of any type of snare in places where they are likely to catch badgers, failure to inspect snares on a daily basis, and setting snares on land without permission, are all offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

In addition there is a Defra Code of Practice on the use of snares in fox and rabbit control. However this is not a statutory code and as such serves no useful purpose. If you want more information on visit our Defra's Code of Practice page.

Snare Laws in Scotland

While the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 has been the principle legislation governing snaring in Scotland, the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act ("the 2004 Act") introduced measures to enhance the protection afforded to wildlife, including measures to improve the regulation of snaring practice. However abuses still continue and so Scottish MSPs will consider an outright ban in 2007 following public consultation.

1. Those measures introduced in 2004 which specifically relate to the regulation of snaring practice in Scotland are:
   
   A new offence of setting in position or otherwise using any snare which is, on the basis of its design and/or the manner in which it is used, calculated to cause unnecessary suffering.
2. A modified offence in section 11 (2)(a) of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, of setting in position any snare or trap which is likely (rather than calculated) to cause injury to animals listed in Schedule 6 of the 1981 Act.
3. A change to the requirement to inspect at least once every day to ensure that no more than 24 hours elapses between any two sequential inspections
4. A new requirement when carrying out an inspection to release or remove any animal caught in the snare whether it is alive or dead. Failure to remove an animal is an offence in its own right but the presence of a dead animal in any snare if it is clear that the animal has been there for more than 24 hours may now also constitute evidence of an offence under section 11(3) of the 1981 Act
5. A new offence of possessing a self locking snare without reasonable excuse. Any person who wishes to possess a self locking snare (for example as exhibits or for educational purposes) can apply for a licence under section 16(3) of the 1981 Act.
6. A new offence of selling or offering or exposing for sale any self locking snare.
7. Two new offences of being in possession of a snare on any land and of setting a snare on any land where the permission of the owner or occupier of any land has not been obtained. [These new provisions allow the owner or occupier to determine his or her own policy in relation to snares. Prior to these new provisions it had not been illegal to set snares on another person's land in order to control foxes and other species.

Laws Failing Wildife

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 requires that snares be checked at least once every day. This is usually interpreted as at least every 24 hours. Daily checking is intended to prevent prolonged suffering of those animals which are caught in snares. However, there have been many occasions where it is clear that snares have not been checked daily - or even weekly.

Even the discovery of a long-dead corpse with a snare around its neck, leg or body does not prove beyond doubt that a snare has not been checked on a daily basis. The person who set the snare can claim that the animal was already dead when the snare was checked, and that it was then simply left where it was.

Wildlife legislation, including that relating to snares, is extremely difficult to enforce for a number of reasons.

Firstly, weaknesses and ambiguities in the legislation frequently hamper investigations by the police and other prosecuting authorities.

Secondly, the use of snares is difficult to monitor when many are used on private land, in isolated locations and away from public scrutiny.

Thirdly, enforcement powers available to the police are limited, compounded by the lack of police resources in many rural areas. Indeed, many police forces are coming under increasing pressure to divert resources away from wildlife crime to prioritise on offences that are notifiable.

A Word of Warning... Treat Police Wildlife Officers With Caution

In January 2007, a serving Police Wildlife Officer (PWO) advised a bloodsport group how its members could sabotage anti-hunt video evidence of illegal hunting. The police officer responsible is believed to be connected to game bird shooting.

Unfortunately the position of Police Wildlife Officer does attract bloodsport fanatics within the police. It can open up whole new possibilities to participate in bloodsports, especially shooting, which their salary alone wouldn't afford them. Typically they are also members of bloodsport groups like the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), a group which tries to foster close links with the police.

Such officers see their role as protecting shooting and hunting interests rather than dealing with the worse cases of cruelty to wildlife. 'Fair Game - The Law of Country Sports and the Protection of Wildlife' by Charlie Parkes and John Thornley, two former PWOs, is an excellent example of this. The book does not cover badger baiting, for example, until 14 pages from the end. The book is little more than a shooters charter and wildlife can only be grateful that the authors have now retired from the police.

The PWO who advocated sabotaging video evidence has never come forward and his bosses, who may also have participate in shooting, have never tried to identify him. This is very unfortunate as it undermines the work and trust in genuine PWOs who care passionately about the job but get little support from their managers. They are under pressure to do their other normal duties and often the only time they get to investigate wildlife crime is in their time off and on their rest days.

So if you have no alternative but to report an incident to a PWO, please remember they might be very friendly with the gamekeeper or even shoot on the estate you are reporting. If possible report all suspected wildlife crimes to the RSPCA first.