Fenn type traps to be banned by 2020!

The Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (AIHTS) is an attempt to enforce an international standard on humaneness for traps relating to fur bearing mammals. Regardless of leaving the EU, the UK government has still agreed to implement.

AIHTS. As far as trapping is concerned, AIHTS only relates to the stoat in the UK while squirrels and young rabbits which are regularly caught in Fenn traps are not covered by it. Nevertheless, as Fenn-type traps (Fenn, Springer, Solway and copies of these traps), Magnum 55, 110, 116 or WCS Tube Traps are indiscriminate it is hard to see how AIHTS can be implemented without a complete ban. But DEFRA have a way of fudging things like this due to close ties to BASC, so we still have to wait and see!

At present,the key date for withdrawing these traps appears to be 1 April 2020 in England, and in Scotland withdrawal would happen on 1 January 2020.