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National Anti Snaring Campaign
Trapped in a wire snare cat lucky rescue Talsam

A cat owner whose pet went missing for two days has spoken of her shock at finding the animal trapped in a wire snare normally set to catch badgers or foxes. Kate Lee, of Talsarn, said her pet cat Gem was only spared a lingering death after her distraught children came across her while carrying out a frantic search two fields away from their smallholding.

“Gem had last been seen at around 5pm on the Sunday and didn’t come home that night,” she told the Cambrian News. “She then didn’t turn up for breakfast the next morning which was very unusual.“When she still hadn’t turned up the following day we went walking down the road to check whether she’d been run over and also looked in vehicles and outbuildings in case she’d been locked in.

“We have 23 acres here and it was while going round our fields that the kids found her in the snare and we
eventually got her out by using a pair of wire cutters.“Poor Gem was very dehydrated and while she let us carry her home she wouldn’t let us touch her after that because she was so sore.

“She also couldn’t walk properly with her hind legs and didn’t have anything to eat for 24 hours. Even now, a few days later, she’s very tender around the middle.

“While I understand why people set these traps I think they should be set more responsibly and checked every 24 hours. “When we went back to the snare four days later it was still the same as when we had released Gem which means it hadn’t been checked in all that time.“I dread to think what would have happened if the kids hadn’t found her – she would still be out there.

Badger found heavily entangled in snare and barbed wire in Lampeter.

Badger snare Lampeter

A female badger has died after being found heavily entangled in a snare and barbed wire.
The adult female badger was found in the Lampeter area and was believed to have been trapped
for a few days.

RSPCA animal collection officer (ACO) Ellie West said: “The badger was very tangled up at the bottom of some fencing. There was no way the badger could have escaped, but luckily I was able to cut all wire and take the badger immediately to an independent vets.

“The badger was sedated and during the examination the vet found that the snare had become
totally embedded into her stomach. There was infection and was very swollen and sore and it is
likely that the badger had been there for at least three days.

“Sadly, to prevent further suffering the vet decided that the kindest thing to do was to put the
badger to sleep.

“This incident really does highlight the cruel and indiscriminate nature of snares.”

The device was not a self-locking snare, which are illegal, but it was not set in accordance with
the Welsh Government’s Code of Practice regarding snare use.”

Fox snared near Cardiff

RSPCA Cardiff fox injured by animal snare - Vale Wildlife Hospital
Credit: Vale Wildlife Hospital

Vale Wildlife Hospital post on January 8, 2020: RSPCA rescued a severely injured fox from a snare: The fox had this snare wrapped around his hind limbs and abdomen – both back legs were very swollen with significant bruising and will need careful monitoring for tissue breakdown, a risk associated with this type of injury.

Report: Simon Wild, National Anti-Snaring Campaign