Snares... good for animal welfare?

It's quite staggering how little credit the shooting lobby give the general public for having a degree of intelligence and common sense when it comes to snares in Scotland. Do they honestly think that anyone believes them when they tell us their new guidelines on snaring will improve the welfare of animals caught in them?

How anyone can argue that a thin wire noose, which tightens around an animal's body and continues to do so as long as the animal struggles, can be positive for animal welfare is quite frankly mad. One of the many problems with a snare is that it is so basic in its design that no amount of regulation or guidance on its use will actually prevent the animal from suffering horrific injuries when trapped. 

Those in favour of the continued use of snaring have obviouly realised that their arguments for retaining their use are wearing thin and have resorted to trying to convince us they have the animals best interests at heart when they want to trap them and then allow them to remain in that trap frightened, stressed, in pain and with no access to food or water for up to 24 hours.

This is, by no stretch of the imagination, something which is good for animal welfare. People in Scotland are not stupid, they are not going to be duped into believing snare users are concerned with animal welfare. After all the majority of snares are set for the purpose of protecting game birds being reared to be shot for sport. They're not used to protect the birds for their own good but are set in order that there are more birds available for people willing to pay to shoot them.

We should be using the opportunities within the Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill to legislate against the use of snares rather than faffing around with glossy guides which will do absolutely nothing to improve animal welfare.