A ban on the use of snares in Scotland, to improve animal welfare
and promote humane wildlife management, is coming into force.
The ban was introduced through the Wildlife Management and
Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 and will come into force on Monday
25 November.
Agriculture Minister said:
“The Scottish Government recognises that control of predators is
sometimes necessary in order to protect vulnerable species, as
well as livestock and agriculture, and that land managers should
be allowed to take action to effectively manage wildlife for
these purposes.
“However, there is sufficient evidence to show that snares can
lead to unacceptable levels of suffering for wild animals, as
well as posing an unacceptable risk to other wildlife and
domestic species accidentally caught in them.
“We worked closely with our stakeholders during the passage of
the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 and
actively considered all proposals put to us. Whilst the removal
of snaring will reduce options for land managers, more humane and
efficient methods of control such as shooting and trapping remain
available for necessary wildlife management.
“Banning the use of snares will ensure that the Scottish
Government continues to meet its commitments to uphold the
highest standards of animal welfare.”
Background
The use of snares is already banned in most EU countries and has
recently been banned in Wales.
Wildlife Management and Muirburn
(Scotland) Bill: use of snares and powers of Scottish SPCA
inspectors - consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the
Act”) was introduced to address raptor persecution and ensure
that the management of grouse moors and related activities are
undertaken in an environmentally sustainable and welfare
conscious manner. The Act does this by implementing the
recommendations of the independent review of grouse moor
management (the “Werritty” review).
The Act contains provisions to:
- Ban the use, supply and possession of glue traps and
introduces licensing and training requirements for certain other
types of wildlife traps;
- Introduces a licensing regime for land used for the shooting
of red grouse
- Licenses all muirburn and bans muirburn on peatland unless
for limited purposes
- Introduce enabling powers to allow Scottish Ministers to
extend the role of inspectors appointed under the Animal Welfare
Act 2006 to investigate certain wildlife offences.
